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diff --git a/40186-0.txt b/40186-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5adb009 --- /dev/null +++ b/40186-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3532 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40186 *** + +Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's +Lake Region + +With Maps and Illustrations + +[Illustration] + +By H. E. COLE +Baraboo. Wisconsin. + +Baraboo News Publishing Company. +Baraboo, Wisconsin. +Copyright 1920. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE INTERESTING BARABOO REGION.] + + + + +Foreword + + +The following pages are intended to give but a faint hint of the +geology, archeology, history and scenic beauty of the Baraboo, Dells, +and Devil's Lake region. If they add, even in a slight degree, to the +pleasure of those who love the out-of-doors, and encourage the local +resident as well as the visitor to inform himself concerning the +numberless interesting and fascinating features of our countryside, the +object for which they were written will have been accomplished. + +As to geology, this is a rare field for the student. The igneous rocks, +the various formations resting upon them, the drift covered and +driftless areas, and the work of erosion through long periods of time +have combined to make the region one to which many students are +attracted annually. + +The Indian earthworks, the village sites, and other relics of a race +which once found delight in dwelling here, furnish a rich territory for +those interested in the American aborigine. + +As to local history, the annals of the white man reach back to 1673 +when the first river voyagers went down the Wisconsin. The interesting +story is continuous from the days when the region was on the outer rim +of civilization to the present time. + +Above all is this section rich in natural beauty. The hills and the +numerous lakes and rivers have for years attracted tourists from every +point of the compass. California and other localities boast greater +elevations, larger lakes and more prominent streams, but for unique +beauty there are few spots in this country that possess the attraction +of the Dells, Mirror Lake, Devil's Lake, and the Baraboo Hills. + +In the preparation of these pages valuable assistance in the making of +the maps has been given by City Engineer H. E. French of Baraboo and +Consulting Engineer W. G. Kirchoffer of Madison. To O. D. Brandenburg, +editor of the Madison Democrat, Dr. M. M. Quaife and Miss Louise Phelps +Kellogg of the staff of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, +Charles E. Brown, secretary of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, and +others the writer is also deeply indebted. + + H. E. COLE. + +June 1, 1920. + + + + +Index + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. Baraboo--Part I 5 + +II. Baraboo--Part II 9 + +III. Devil's Lake 13 + +IV. Wisconsin River Dells 19 + +V. Lower Dells--Deserted Village 24 + +VI. Mirror Lake--Congress Hall 28 + +VII. Pewit's Nest--Skillet Falls 30 + +VIII. Man Mound, Indian Earthwork 33 + +IX. Stone Pillar of Chief Yellow Thunder 35 + +X. Portage and Fort Winnebago 38 + +XI. Boyhood Homes of John Muir 43 + +XII. Wisconsin Heights Battlefield--Natural Bridge 46 + +XIII. Parfrey's Glen 52 + +XIV. Durward's Glen 53 + +XV. Spring Green--Taliesin--Other Trips 61 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Origin of Name and First Settlers at Baraboo--Museum--Where Ringlings +First Pitched a Tent + + +Baraboo, the Gem City, is supposed to have been named for Jean +Baribault (the spelling corrupted into Baraboo), a French trader and +trapper who is said to have bartered with the Indians near the mouth of +the stream which bears his name. First the river was called Baraboo, +spelled in various ways, then the name was applied to the hills, to the +city, and to the town. + +The city of Baraboo is situated in a boat-shaped valley about twenty +miles in length and of varying width. The north and south range of the +Baraboo Bluffs enclose the valley, the river entering through a gap at +the Upper Narrows and escaping through a similar opening at the eastern +extremity of the depression. + +The first families came to Baraboo about 1840, among them being those +of Eben Peck, Wallace Rowin, and Abe Wood. The water power was the +loadstone that attracted these first settlers, Peck laying claim to the +land at the "lower oxbow" and the other two to the power site at the +"upper oxbow" of the Baraboo river. Eben Peck was the first to erect a +house in Madison, Mrs. Peck was the first white woman in the Baraboo +valley, and their only daughter, Mrs. A. S. Hawley, the first white +person born in Madison, now resides in the neighboring village of +Delton. + + +Museum in Courthouse + +The museum of the Sauk County Historical Society in the courthouse +contains many relics of pioneer times and pictures of the pioneers +themselves. There are cases of stone and copper Indian relics; display +of badges given by the late Philip Cheek, at one time department +commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of Wisconsin, by Mrs. +Cheek, by C. S. Blanchett and others; number of flintlock and other old +guns; exhibit of polished shells, stalactites, and many very +interesting curios of this locality. The society also possesses a +remarkable collection of handmade tools. + + +The First Courthouse + +The first courthouse in Baraboo stood on the north side of the square +at about 120 Fourth Avenue. The second story was used by the pioneers, +not only for a courtroom but for church, school, lecture and dancing +hall. On one occasion citizens began to arrive for both religious +services and a dancing party, there being some mistake in announcing +the two events. For a time there was some question as to how the matter +would terminate when a violin was brought forth and the floor was soon +filled with dancers indulging in the light fantastic. After being +deserted by the county officers, and while being used as a saloon, the +building was burned on the night of July 4, 1857. + + +The Al. Ringling Theatre + +The beautiful Al. Ringling theatre, 136-140 Fourth Avenue, just west of +the old courthouse site, was erected by the oldest of the circus firm +of Ringling Brothers on the ground once occupied by the Wisconsin +House, the brick portion of which was known in pioneer times as the +Little Dutch Tavern. The theatre, a building of unusual beauty, was +built in 1915, at a cost of about $100,000. The interior is of French +design; instead of a gallery there is a crescent of seventeen boxes +above the main floor. The building seats almost 1,000 persons and was +opened to the public on the night of November 17, 1915, the owner, then +in ill health, being barely able to be present. Mr. Ringling died soon +after, January 1, 1916, in the large mansion around the corner to the +right. + + +The Al. Ringling Residence + +The Al. Ringling residence of Lake Superior brown stone was erected in +1909, the cost being about $100,000. Here the funeral of a brother, +Otto Ringling, was held in 1911. Otto was born in a small frame house +that stood about where the north wall of the mansion is located. The +only sister of the Ringling Brothers, Mrs. Harry North, and her family +now occupy the home. + + +The First Church + +Across the street to the east of the Al. Ringling residence stood the +first church in the Baraboo valley. One winter day in January, 1850, a +band of Christian workers cleared away the snow, erected a building 36 +by 74 feet from rough boards, filling the spaces between the walls with +sawdust, and covering the floor with the same material. A bronze tablet +on the treebank marks the site. + + +An Early College + +In the days before high schools every village with any pretence to +enterprise and enlightenment had a select school or college. The +building at the rear of the Ringling residence, 221 and 223 Fifth +Avenue, was the home of the Baraboo Collegiate Institute, established +in 1858. With the opening of the free high school in Baraboo in the +late 60's the institution closed its doors. Originally the building +faced the east. + + +A Literary Atmosphere + +The street later boasted a literary atmosphere as a little farther to +the west, at number 316 Fifth Avenue, lived Jack Boyle, the genial +author of the widely read Boston Blackie stories, during the winter of +1919-'20. + + +Library Where a Church Stood + +Turning to the left at the corner of Fifth and Birch, one block brings +the loiterer to the Carnegie Free Public Library, standing on the site +of the Free Congregational Church. In the old church Samuel Longfellow, +a brother of the New England poet, expounded the doctrines of +Unitarianism, the choir singing hymns of his composition. In the same +building A. Bronson Alcott interpreted transcendentalism, and Rev. +Frederic May Holland, a cousin of Louisa M. Alcott, was heard there. + + +Home of the Gollmars + +A little to the south of the library, 507 Birch Street, is the home of +the late Mr. and Mrs. G. G. Gollmar, parents of the Gollmar Brothers +who owned a circus for many years. The Gollmar sons and daughters are +cousins of the Ringlings. The house is now occupied by a daughter, Mrs. +Armor Brown. + + +Where The Ringlings First Pitched a Tent + +Turning to the left on Second Avenue one block, then to the right one +block, brings the visitor to the county jail, the site where Ringling +Brothers first pitched their "big top," May 19, 1884. The old jail +stood farther back on the lot and the circus was given near the avenue, +the gate of the fence enclosing the grounds standing open all day. + +Although they had given hall shows before the first circus performance +beneath a tent, that afternoon in May was the beginning of a road which +ended in the making of several millionaires. + +Across the street and a little to the west, 210 Second Avenue, is where +August Ringling (originally spelled Rungeling), the father of the +showmen, died in 1898. The family previously lived at number 227, +almost at the end of the block on the opposite side of the +thoroughfare. + + +A Dream of Jugs + +Continuing on Second Avenue one is reminded that on the side of the +hill there was once a pottery where jars and jugs were produced in +profusion. With the poet one can almost hear the potter sing: + + "Turn, turn, my wheel, turn round and round; + Without a pause, without a sound." + + +The Lincoln Elm + +The large elm in front of the residence at 506 Second Avenue was +planted by the late State Senator Frank Avery on the day the news of +the assassination of President Lincoln reached Baraboo in April, 1865. +It is known as the Lincoln elm. As with the martyred Lincoln a tragedy +came to the tree one day--Jove shot a thunderbolt into its branches, +badly injuring it. + + +No Lions Now + +Continuing down the street, the ground to the left and adjacent to the +river, was the winter quarters of the Gollmar Brothers' Circus for many +years. The circus was established in 1891, was conducted by Charles A., +Benjamin F., Fred C., and Walter S., and sold by them in the fall of +1916 to the Patterson Carnival Company. + + +Largest Mill This Side of Philadelphia + +Across the river stands the Island Woolen Mill (owned by the McFetridge +family) the largest plant of its kind west of Philadelphia. + + +Lyons + +Crossing the concrete bridge over the Baraboo River, where the inviting +pergolas stand at the ends of the dam, one is in the village of Lyons, +platted by W. H. Canfield in 1846, the first plat in the Baraboo +valley, and named for Lyons, New York. + +Going several blocks to the right after making the first turn, the +traveler is on the Baraboo-Kilbourn road. Swinging again to the right +the old Indian ford may be seen in the Baraboo River, the highway along +the stream occupying the location of an aboriginal trail. + + +An Early Home + +The log cabin of Wallace Rowin (sometimes spelled Rowan or Rowen) was +near the large elm tree by the driveway leading to the residence +opposite the ford. Rowin came into the lead region of Wisconsin during +the excitement in the 30's, was an early resident at Cross Plains, the +first to enter land in Columbia county, and one of the first to come to +Baraboo. Rowin, and wife, the first country judge of Sauk county, +Lorrin Cowles, his daughter, and others are buried on the ridge of land +several rods to the left as one travels a block or more towards Ochsner +Park. + + +The City Park + +The park was acquired by the city in 1918 and formally opened to the +public in 1919. The land was purchased from the Ochsner family, the +celebrated Chicago surgeon, Dr. A. J. Ochsner, making his interest in +the property a gift to the city. + + +The First House in Baraboo + +At the crest of the river bank in the southwest corner of the park is +where the first log cabin, the first house, was built in Baraboo. In it +lived Abe Wood, his Indian wife, and their two daughters. Wood & Rowin +built the first dam in the Baraboo River, a portion of it remaining a +few rods below and to the left of where the cabin stood. When the water +is low some of the timbers may be seen in the bottom of the stream, +placed there in 1840. + + +An Old Hop House + +North of Ochsner Park, on the Dodd estate at 706 Eighth Avenue, stands +an old hop house, a reminder of the days when fortunes were made and +lost growing the vine in this region. + +Leaving the park at the street in front of the brick residence, the old +Ochsner home, and continuing on Seventh Avenue to number 617, is found +the pioneer homestead of Col. D. S. Vittum, once the scene of much +social gaiety. It was a fine place in its day, crowning a hill amongst +the forest trees, but like many early American homes, the time has come +when it may be said: + + "A jolly place in time of old, + But something ails it now." + + +The First School + +At 321 Seventh Avenue, the visitor comes to where the first school was +erected in the Baraboo valley. The site was selected by Wallace Rowin, +W. H. Canfield, and Lewis Bronson. E. M. Hart the first teacher, +resided with his girl wife in the lean-to of the log structure. +Notwithstanding an abundance of timber in the immediate vicinity, such +economy was exercised in erecting the structure, as a tall citizen once +remarked, it was necessary to stoop unusually low when entering the +door, "and you could throw a cat through the cracks without touching a +hair." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Old Opera House--Cemetery on the Hill--Deserted Ringlingville--Bunn the +Baker of Baraboo + + +A huge and humorous hoax was the Cardiff Giant. The collapsed humbug +was told at every fireside in the land in 1869 and has been retold +thousands of times since then. (If the reader is interested go to the +Carnegie Free Library, Baraboo, and obtain a copy of the Century +Magazine, vol. 64,--new series of Century is Vol. 42--Oct. 1902, page +948; or read in the Sauk County History, 1880, page 547.) The figure +was made at Fort Dodge, Iowa, shipped to Chicago, where finishing +touches were made, and later taken to Binghampton, New York, then +buried on the Newell farm at Cardiff. Not long after the giant was +exhumed and still later the fraud was exposed. One of the star actors +in the performance was George Hull, who came from Binghampton, New +York, to Baraboo, in 1867, and manufactured cigars in a shelly kind of +a structure at 614 Oak Street, next to the alley, across the +thoroughfare from the rear of the Warren Hotel. While Hull was away the +building was burned. It is stated there was insurance of $12,000, that +Hull settled for $1,000, and many people said, "Nigger in the fence." + + +Where Celebrities Were Heard + +At the northeast corner of Oak and Fifth, 701-705, now occupied by a +garage, was located the old Opera House. Here were heard such +characters as Robert G. Ingersoll, the skeptic; W. J. Bryan, the +silver-tongued orator; Elbert Hubbard, a victim on the Lusitania; Opie +Read, the author; Robert M. La Follette, the senator; and many others. +Nat Goodwin, Salvini and stars of divers magnitude played here and +noted musicians filled the structure with their harmonious +reverberations. The old building burned on February 22, 1905. + + +The Oldest Living Thing in Town + +If, perchance, one dwells in a town where the inhabitants do not keenly +appreciate the pleasure derived from rare old trees, or where the +authorities have destroyed many a precious one, the visitor will be +charmed with the beauty of the streets of Baraboo. In many places grand +old elms arch the thoroughfares, giving wondrous beauty to the vista +and shade in the mid-summer season. + +The gnarled burr oak nearly opposite the garage, standing at 708 Oak +Street, is without doubt the oldest living thing in the town. An +appreciative magazine editor once graced the pages of his publication +with a story of this old oak and since then it is often spoken of as +the "Magazine Tree." + + +Church With Memorial Windows + +On the northeast corner of Oak and Sixth Streets is seen Trinity +Episcopal Church, a charming edifice of Gothic design, adorned with +several memorial windows. A bronze tablet on the interior speaks of the +long service of out of the rectors, Rev. Samuel B. Cowdry. + + +A Giant of the Town + +A few paces on the opposite side of the street towers a giant +cottonwood, one of the largest trees in town. It stands nearly in front +of the residence at 821 Oak. Here Mrs. August Ringling, the mother of +the circus brothers, enjoyed the evening of life and died in 1907. The +daughter, Mrs. Harry North, and her family resided here until the +spring of 1919 when they moved to the stone mansion at 617 Broadway. + +Diagonally across the way, 107 Seventh Street, is the home of the late +J. J. Gattiker, one of the early residents of the town. It is now +occupied by his two daughters. This delightful old home, with its +luxurious shrubbery and garden, its extensive library and pipe organ, +has long been a gathering place for the literary and musical folk of +Baraboo. + +Passing up the street one block brings the stroller to Eighth, and to +the left about two blocks, number 234, is the late home of A. G. +Ringling, the first of the seven brothers to answer the call of death. +The home is now occupied by Mrs. Ringling. + + +Relatives of a Movie Star + +Just east of the Ringling residence, 218 Eighth Avenue, a small house +is half hidden behind a group of pines, the place where Clara Kimball +Young's grandparents, Professor and Mrs. J. S. Kimball, resided for +many years. The parents of the movie star, Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. +Kimball, dwelt there with the professor and his wife for a year or more +when the daughter was in her infancy. + + +Other Ringling Homes + +On up Oak Street, number 103 Tenth, stands the home erected by the late +Alf. T. Ringling, who died at Oak Ridge, New Jersey, October 21, 1919. +The place is surrounded by a vineclad, sandstone retaining wall, has a +commanding view, and is well appointed within. The place is now the +home of Mrs. Ringling. Henry Ringling died in September, 1918, in the +colonial house at 201 Eighth, erected by Charles E. Ringling and +occupied by the family for a number of years. Mrs. Henry Ringling and +son now live in the home. + + +The Baraboo Cemetery + +One of the pleasing prospects of the region is obtained from the high +point on the south side of the Baraboo Cemetery. The burying ground is +reached by ascending East Street from the greenhouse, passing the old +T. M. Warren home buried among the trees on the right and a row of +trees planted on the same side of the thoroughfare through the efforts +of the Civic League. The view from the knoll in the cemetery includes a +sweep of the eastern portion of the Baraboo Valley and the south range +of the Baraboo Bluffs, the Devil's Lake gap being almost directly south +and Point Sauk, 1620 feet high, to the southeast. The Baraboo River is +hidden in its depressed bed and the lake is closed from view by the +terminal moraine left by the sea of ice in glacial times. + +In the old cemetery sleep many lawyers, doctors, ministers, merchants, +enginemen, trainmen, circusmen, newspapermen, and others identified +with the city which is half-hidden below. The mausoleum near the south +boundary of the cemetery is that of Henry Ringling, the one farther +north and in the same row of lots, that of Al. Ringling. The father and +mother and Otto are buried near the granite resting place of the +youngest son, Henry. August G. Ringling is interred in St. Joseph's +Catholic Cemetery, adjoining the protestant, and near the public +highway while Alf. T. sleeps at White Plains, New York. + +Between the vault and the sexton's house is the grave of Mrs. Eben +Peck, the first white woman to come into the Baraboo Valley, and on a +stone in the same lot one reads the name of her son-in-law, Nelson W. +Wheeler, the author of "Old Thunderbolt in Justice Court." + + +The Hull House + +Returning to the greenhouse and continuing one block south, 820 East +Street, one finds where George Hull, of Cardiff Giant notoriety, +resided while a dweller in Baraboo. + + +House With Many Gables + +While passing Sixth Street one may see on the ridge to the right, +number 216 Fifth, the house of many gables. For years the place was the +home of Terrell Thomas, the first banker in Baraboo, and here died Rev. +Fr. J. T. Durward in September, 1918. + + +Church With Beautiful Windows + +Several blocks towards the river, St. Joseph's Catholic Church stands +on the brow of the hill. The structure was erected during the +priesthood of the late Fr. J. T. Durward and one of its characteristics +is the beautiful windows, impressive and artistic in design, portraying +many Biblical scenes. + + +Deserted Ringlingville + +At the foot of the hill, and extending several blocks to the eastward +along Water Street, lies deserted Ringlingville. For more than thirty +years the circus went forth in the spring time and, after a season in +many commonwealths, returned with the autumn, weaving into the years a +name which will cling to the place for many decades to come. Here the +lions roared and the hyenas snarled, while there trumpeted in a +building hard by the largest herd of elephants this side of Africa. +With the coming of the mellow days of spring, horses and camels and +pachyderms in long processions gave to the streets an individual air, +while the yards and thoroughfares filled with gilded wagons +emphatically denoted the circus center that it was. On account of the +war and influenza in the fall of 1918, the show sought refuge in +Bridgeport, a calamity in Ringlingville. + + +A Pioneer Home + +Turning to the west the loiterer passes the Ringling Hotel on the left, +and a block more reaches Ash street. Perched on the hill to the right, +308 Ash, is the pioneer home of Colonel D. K. Noyes and family, erected +in 1850. It was the first example of a solid and dignified abode in +Baraboo, built of red brick and graced with four fluted columns. +Between those two same pillars on the left the owner went away to war, +losing a foot at Antietam, and to win honors as postmaster and +politician. Between those two same pillars the guests assembled on +their golden wedding day and later the venerable pair passed out, one +after another, to their last resting place on the hill. + + +Bunn The Baker of Baraboo + +Bunn the Baker of Baraboo, made immortal by B. L. T. in the Chicago +Tribune, had his shop across the river at 114 Walnut Street, the street +name changing at the river. Here the tradesman-merchant with the +alliterative appellation, made sweet buns and bread until the fall of +1919 when a home was purchased on Cheek's Hill where Mr. and Mrs. Bunn +reside. + + +Birds of Many Feathers + +Advancing and turning to the right on Lynn Street, then crossing the +long bridge over the Baraboo River, one arrives at the high school +building on the right, and postoffice on the left. In the former +structure is the extensive bird collection made by Charles Deininger +of Sauk City. Here may be seen a male and female passenger pigeon, +mandible to mandible, as if pitifully predicting the doom of the +species. At one time millions were slaughtered at roosting places on +the bluffs and in the pine woods near Kilbourn, after they had darkened +the sky at evening on their return from feeding grounds. At present as +far as known no living birds are in existence. The two exhibited are +rare and interesting specimens. + + +An Idea Makes a Million + +Where the Corner Drug Store is located at the southeast corner of Oak +and Third Streets, once stood a frame building fronting the first-named +thoroughfare. On the second floor of the old structure A. N. Kellogg +published a newspaper and during the Civil war he found it necessary, +the typesetter having shouldered arms, to have his paper printed on one +side at Madison. The idea developed into the "patent insides" for +newspapers. Mr. Kellogg's name became familiar in every rural newspaper +office in the land, and he garnered a fine fortune as his reward. His +business was absorbed by larger interests several years ago and the +name is no longer known in the newspaper world. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Devil's Lake State Park--Geology of the Baraboo Hills--The Glacial +Epoch--Scenic Wonders + + +Devil's Lake is one of the outstanding places of beauty and wonder in +this region of unusual charm and interest. The placid body of water, +with talused slopes and encroaching moraines, is the central object in +Devil's Lake State Park, a tract of land containing more than a +thousand acres. Few of the visitors who come into this region escape +the lure of this wonderful playground. + +The Park is reached by traversing three miles of concrete road from +Baraboo, the beautiful highway made possible by a bequest of $40,000 by +the late W. W. Warner of Madison, an early resident of Baraboo. The +contract for building the road was awarded in 1919, the work to be +completed in that year and 1920. + + +An Iron Mine + +Soon after leaving the city, about a quarter of a mile to the right, +may be seen a stack of iron ore at the abandoned Cahoon Mine. The mine +was opened in 1911 and closed in 1919 after more than a million dollars +had been expended. The Baraboo Valley from end to end has been pierced +with the diamond drill and iron ore has been found beneath the surface +in all the region, often at a depth of 400 feet. Two abandoned mines +may be seen southwest of North Freedom and flowing wells here and there +tell of the millions expended by various companies in a vain effort to +make mother earth yield her riches. + + +Entering the Park + +Just before entering the Park one's attention is called to the view on +the left extending to the Lower Narrows of the Baraboo River and to the +Caledonia Hills beyond. Within the Park unique is the vista through the +arboreal avenue, rugged rocks on the right and a wooded slope on the +left. + +The first glimpse of the lake is caught from the terminal moraine, the +ridge of land left between the bluffs when the ice was present during +the glacial epoch centuries ago. On top of this ridge, toward the +railroad track, where the road begins to descend, lies an effigy Indian +mound. + + +Geological Wonder of the World + +Geologically Devil's Lake is one of the wonders of the world. At the +dawn of the earth's history there were no rivers or lakes or bluffs in +the Baraboo region, the ocean or an inland sea covering all the land. +At the bottom of the sea were the Archean or igneous rocks, the oldest +formation known to geology. Upon these rocks the sand was piled a mile +deep, the sand at a later time being changed into sandstone and still +later metamorphosed into the hard quartzite which towers high in the +bluffs. Resting upon the beds of sand were deposits of clay which +changed to slate, limestone which became dolomite, and iron which +remained in its elemental state. + +[Illustration: Balance Rock] + +[Illustration: View of Devil's Lake] + +[Illustration: Stone Face] + +Later there was a mountain making movement of the earth and there +appeared peaks as lofty as those in the Alps or Rockies. The once +horizontal beds of sand, clay, limestone and iron were uplifted and +folded in the process, the layers at the lake being inclined about +fifteen degrees as seen along the East Bluff. The Baraboo Bluffs are +among the oldest formed things on the globe--older than the Rockies or +Alleghenies, older than a pound of coal on the earth, older than any +tree or bird or beast that ever lived. + +There was a long period of erosion and a river cut a gorge through the +range where the lake is now located. + +In Paleozoic times the sea returned again, the tops of the bluffs stood +as islands above the waves, the loose rocks were rounded on the shore, +and sandstone almost filled the gorge where there was once a river. The +animal life then consisted of trilobites, oyster like organisms, and +other low forms. + +The sea retreated and a river once more carried away the material which +filled the gap in the bluffs. Because the hills of this region were +once buried and again exposed to view, they are sometimes called the +"Baraboo fossil." + + +The Glacial Epoch + +Next came the glacial epoch, when the advancing ice from the northeast +came into the Baraboo region; this was a long time after the sea +retreated the last time, possibly a period of 100,000 or 200,000 years. +Into this gorge where probably once flowed the stream we now know as +the Wisconsin River, the ice advanced to the terminal moraine, where +the visitor descends just before reaching the lake. At the same time +another tongue of cold crept into the valley between the Devil's Nose +and the Lake. Had the tongues of ice advanced much farther there would +have been no lake. Sand and gravel were washed into the gorge, leaving +a deposit hundreds of feet thick. The well at the north end of the Lake +is 283 feet deep, the drill stopping before it reached the bed of the +ancient stream. In times agone the river must have found its way +through a chasm 900 or 1,000 feet deep, a scene as picturesque as that +of the present gorge below Niagara Falls. + + +The Lake at Present + +The following applies to the lake as it is today: + + Above sea level--About 960 feet. + + Above the river at Baraboo--About 120 feet. + + Height of West Bluff above the lake--About 500 feet. + + Height of East Bluff above the lake--A little less than 500 + feet near the lake, 610 feet some distance to the east. + + Height of South Bluff--At Devil's Nose, 495 feet. + + Source of supply--Springs and two small creeks. + + Outlet--Evaporation and seepage. + + Area draining into the lake--About 5-1/2 square miles. + + Greatest length--1-1/4 miles. + + Average width--2,200 feet or 2/5 of a mile. + + Greatest depth--43 feet. + + Average depth--30 feet. + + Circumference--3-1/4 miles. + + Area--388 acres, or 3/5 of a square mile. + + Volume at low water--3,495,245,000 gallons. + + +History + +On the early maps the name of the lake is given as Lake of the Hills. +Of it I. A. Lapham, early Wisconsin traveler and scientist, wrote: "The +lake is vulgarly called Devils Lake from the wild, rocky place in +which it is found." The Indian name for Devils Lake is Minnewaukan, or +Evil Spirit Lake. The lake has unusual echoing powers and for this +reason, it is said, the Indians supposed the bluffs to be inhabited by +powerful spirits or manitos. The Winnebago have a tradition that the +buffalo clan of their tribe had its origin on its shores. + + +First Visited + +The earliest record of the lake being visited by a white man was about +1839 when James S. Albin, the first permanent settler in Sauk County, +came to the bluffs. + + +Climbing the Mountain + +Between the railroad track and where the path begins its ascent of the +East Bluff, stood the Cliff House, a pioneer hotel on the shore of the +lake. In the historic structure many a noted traveler tarried, among +them Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, and many social events were given; Baraboo +folk often mingled with the visitors to the region. W. B. Pearl was the +last landlord, leaving the place in 1904. The hotel, annex and other +buildings were razed soon after. + + +Elephant Rock and Cave + +The first pause of interest along the scenic, twisting trail, as one +ascends the bluff is Elephant Rock. This huge, reclining pachyderm is +an unusual freak of nature's chisel. + +Just back of Elephant Rock is the Cave, where may be seen some of the +quartzite boulders rounded by the waves of the ancient Potsdam Sea. The +top of the quartzite, on which the conglomerate rests, is the old sea +shore, made smooth by the restless waves of that early time. + +Passing onward along the path from Elephant Rock, the pedestrian will +see more of the conglomerate as he hugs the cliff, and the fantastic +roots twining in and out will not be passed unobserved. + + +The Tomahawk Rock + +Not far away is Tomahawk Rock, standing erect over the brow of the +cliff, just as if placed there by some giant of other times. + +Up and down winds the way until a point is reached where the ancient +river valley turned to the eastward. Half way down the precipice, you +can make it if you are an expert mountaineer, is Balanced Rock, a huge +piece of elongated quartzite, shaped much like an inverted dash churn +of log cabin days, big at the top and little at the bottom. + +From the location of Balanced Rock or from the top of the bluff above +may be obtained a rare view of the valley. + + +Devil's Doorway + +To the east a few hundred paces is the Devil's Doorway, a quaint +arrangement of rocks left as the result of the washing away of the +stones and earth through long periods of rain and frost. + + +Once a Waterfall + +Just east of the Doorway the careful observer will find a number of +potholes, rounded places in the hard quartzite. These were undoubtedly +once in the bed of a river, where a waterfall was an interesting object +on the landscape. Potholes can be made in no way except by running or +falling water. + +Unless the visitor desires to explore the bluffs to the east, the +descent is now made a few rods from the potholes. At the upper end of +the trail will be noticed a quantity of preglacial gravel about which +Professor R. D. Salisbury and William C. Alden and others have written. + +Reaching the trees below and keeping close to the rocks, Alaska Grotto +will be reached a few rods to the west. If a warm day, go into the +depression and feel the flood of cold air pouring outward. + +Crossing the railroad track to the shore of the lake, the large bird +effigy mound will be noted near the hotel. The length of the body is +about 115 feet and the wingspread about 240 feet. There is a bronze +tablet on the mound. + + +The West Bluff + +On the West Bluff may be seen Cleopatra's Needle, the Turk's Head, and +other points of interest. This bluff is often called Palisade Park, so +named by A. R. Ziemer who platted a summer city and exploited the place +in 1894 and 1895. + +The young man died in his cottage in the early winter of 1895 and soon +the project fell into decay. The observation tower, his home, the Marsh +& Jackson Cottage, and the Coleman place became ruins. + + +Spring + +Koshawagos Spring, some distance from the southwest corner of the lake, +supplies the finest water in the whole locality. It takes its name from +the Koshawagos Club House hard by, the word meaning "Men of the +Valley." + + +The Indian Mounds + +Besides the animal effigy on the north terminal moraine and the bird +near the Kirkland Hotel, the following may be mentioned: a low mound +west of the Cliff House site cut by the railroad: two linears about +thirty rods to the west, one extending into the public road; and the +Terminal Moraine group in front of the Claude Cottage. A bear effigy, a +linear and still another effigy are quite plainly outlined while two +others are almost obliterated. + +Nestling near the west bluff is the late home of L. W. Claude, who came +from Ambleside, England, to the Lake in pioneer times. The rugged +beauty of the spot recalled the charm of his former home in the +fascinating lake region and, with his family, he enjoyed the Lake for +many years. The interesting home is now occupied by the family only +during the summer seasons. + + +Much for the Beholder + +These ragged rocks and towering cliffs are most overpowering when +viewed from a boat coasting along the western shore of the lake. + +An adequate description of this picturesque spot is not attempted here. +The life in the lake, the ferns and flowers on the slope, the +fur-coated and feather-covered friends in the wood, as well as the +charm of the Lake itself in its unusual environment, are left for the +enjoyment of the visitor. Nor has anything been said of Indian legends +which hover over the lofty crags and cling to the rocky shores. + + "The mountain's wall in the water, + It looks like a great blue cup, + And the sky looks like another, + Turned over, bottom side up." + +[Illustration: THE DELLS AND MIRROR LAKE REGION] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Wisconsin River Dells--Journey of Fascinating Scenery--Jefferson +Davis--Belle Boyd, Rebel Spy + + +No portion of the Badger state is more widely known for scenic beauty +than the Wisconsin River Dells. Each passing year thousands of persons +revel in the charm of this region, often remaining throughout the +summer enjoying the hospitality of the city of Kilbourn, which is +picturesquely located on the bank of the river. Here the stream has cut +a great gorge through the sandstone rocks leaving wonderful castellated +crags standing high on either side and fascinating niches below through +which the water bubbles and boils in caldrons of solid rock. Shaded +pathways invite the visitor to explore fern-hung nooks that hold +especial interest for the botanist and the vari-colored sands and rocks +possess unusual attractions for those interested in unique geological +formations. + + +The Way From Baraboo + +From Baraboo to the Dells, the way is over Trunk Line No. 12. The road +first climbs the north range of the Baraboo Bluffs, then crosses +Webster's Prairie, the terminal moraine, relic of the ice epoch, +forming the sky-line along the way, less than a mile to the east. This +extensive prairie, a veritable flower garden in the days before the +first plow-share disturbed the soil, is the outwash from a wall of +glacial ice that, during the ice epoch, extended for miles in a +northerly and southerly direction near the site of the present highway. +It is now the center of a prosperous rural community. + + +The Marshall Farm + +Some eight or nine miles distant from Baraboo, shortly before the road +turns to the left, an interesting old residence is observed, The Elms, +the home of the Marshall family, early residents of the Prairie. The +place, which once included 1,476 acres, is owned by Judge R. D. +Marshall of Madison, for many years a member of the supreme court of +the state. The acreage has been somewhat reduced in recent years. + +From the Marshall farm the road pursues a winding way, crossing Dell +Creek and passing through the sequestered village of Delton where it +turns abruptly to the right following an almost continuous avenue of +pines into Kilbourn. + + +The Dells + +The way to see the Dells is by boat. Throughout the entire length of +the narrow passage a fanciful nomenclature adds to the romantic +character of the objects and places. Before the great dam was built at +Kilbourn a number of peculiarly interesting points, now buried by the +whirling waters, were exposed to view. The erection of the dam, +although destroying these particular features, has added to the +uniqueness of others, resulting as a whole in increased attractiveness +for the Dells. + +[Illustration: THE NARROWS, DELLS OF THE WISCONSIN + +One hundred feet deep. The river seems almost to be running on its edge +hemmed in by ponderous rocks. + +Courtesy Wisconsin Geological Survey] + +The points of interest usually called to the attention of visitors by +the guides follow: + +Angel Rock on the right is a rugged projection, curiously shaped. The +imagination will easily transform this lofty crag into a huge angel +with outspread wings. It is sometimes called Marble Rock, from the +rounded sandstone pebbles on the ledge and in the river. + +The Swallow's Home is where the swallows live. During the nesting +season thousands of these birds may be seen occupying innumerable holes +in the side of the cliff. + +The Jaws of the Dells, the entrance proper, are guarded by High Rock +and Romance Cliff, two immense rocks standing as sentinels to the +waterway. + +Chimney Rock is one of nature's freaks, resembling a stick and mortar +chimney of pioneer times. It was fashioned by the waters as they cut +this wonderful gorge. + +Echo cove is submerged. + +Black Hawk's Head is another curious result of erosion. + +Nothing but the site is left of the ancient and weathered Dell House, +once a "wild, rambling old rookery." It was the first frame house built +on the river above Portage, erected in 1837-38 by Robert V. Allen and +used for many years as a tavern. Here the rivermen recounted their +thrilling experiences in piloting their rafts through the Dells and +told of the days in the pineries of pioneer Wisconsin. + +Chapel Gorge is a beautifully shaped glen on the right, named for a +peculiarly shaped rock at the entrance. + +Boat Cave is submerged. + +Circle Bend is a half-circle in the river, the cliff of solid masonry +formed of rocks high and bold. + +Sturgeon Rock resembles the fish by that name. It is located on the +left at the entrance to the wild grandeur of the Dells. + +The Navy Yard exhibits the geological formation of the Dells in the +superlative degree. Huge vessels with prows and sides and ribs of solid +stone, may be pictured without difficulty by the imagination, all +warring with the waters of the narrows. + +Opposite the Navy Yard is Eaton Grotto, a long deep opening in the face +of the cliff. + +Skylight Cave is submerged. + +At the Narrows the river is only fifty-two feet wide, but over 80 feet +deep. Here the stream runs on its edge, hemmed in by ponderous rocks. +In 1850 Schuyler S. Gates built a bridge over the stream at this place, +the first ever thrown across the Wisconsin River. After thousands of +teams and passengers had paid toll, the high water of 1866 carried it +away. + +The Devil's Elbow marks the place where the stream makes a square turn +as it enters the Narrows. + +Black Hawk Cave on the left, so lingers a legend, is where the chief +secreted himself after his disastrous war of 1832. + +Notch Rock, near the water's edge, was the terror of raftsmen, more +than one raft breaking up and more than one life being lost at this +place. + +Artist's Glen, on the right, is one of the most beautiful retreats of +the Dells. + +Sliding Rocks, at the edge of the water, are so named from their +peculiar formation, apparently sliding inward and throwing the water to +the center of the stream. + +The Ancient River Bed is seen on the left. In an early day a portion of +the river flowed through the now deserted channel, entering the main +stream near the Dell House site and forming an island. + +Coldwater Canyon is one of the grand features of the Dells. This is a +rocky defile with frowning crags and perpendicular walls. + +The Devil's Jug, thirty-five feet across at the bottom and seventy feet +high, is a never-ending wonder. + +The Devil's Arm Chair is submerged. + +The Clam Banks are just above, a place in name only. + +The Ruffle Rocks adorn the side of the stream. + +Chameleon Cave, with beautiful changing mosses, is near Steamboat Rock. + +Steamboat Rock, without smoke-stack and wheel-house, challenges +attention. + +Roods' Glen is on the right. + +Honey Bee Spring is submerged. + +Arch Cove gives a view of the river above. + +Witches' Gulch is of rare interest and extends for three-quarters of a +mile from the shore. + +Above Witches' Gulch are the Hornets' Nest, Luncheon Hall, Stand Rock, +Demon's Anvil, Louis Bluff and Elephant Back. All around is a panorama +of beauty. + + +Jefferson Davis at Dells + +In pioneer times, before the day of the tourist, with each returning +vernal season a procession of rafts passed through the Dells. There was +no dam below in those days and the surging waters carried more than one +raft to destruction and more than one raftsman to his doom. Among the +first timbers to be floated through the gorge was lumber for the +building of Fort Winnebago at Portage, cut on the Yellow River by +Jefferson Davis and a detail of soldiers. It is said the future +president of the Southern Confederacy rode one of the rafts through the +surging waters to its destination many miles below. + + +Other Attractions + +Besides the Dells there are other places of interest at beautiful +Kilbourn. + +The hydro-electric dam and power station is within easy walking +distance of the boat landing. + +There is a small museum in the library building, which is situated a +short distance east of the business section of the village. + +One block east of the library and one block to the right a number of +deer may be seen in a park owned by J. Wirtz. + +Miss Anna Kriegel, taxidermist, has a collection of birds of the +region. Her home is a short distance north of the fairground. + +Taylor Glen and Tunnel, Rocky Arbor, and Indian Cavern are within easy +reach. + +In the Kilbourn State Bank may be seen a collection of Indian relics, +the property of L. N. Coapman, the cashier. + + +Grave of Rebel Spy + +The grave of Belle Boyd, the noted Rebel spy, is in the Kilbourn +Cemetery, her resting place being south of the center and near the +Maybee monument. She was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1846. +When a girl she heard the federal troops were threatening her "beloved +south" and galloped at night to Stonewall Jackson to convey to him the +news. Soon after she was captured and taken to Washington where she +became a favorite through her charming manners. After being in prison +for a time, she was exchanged for Colonel Michael Cochoran of the Irish +Brigade. + +Not long after her boldness brought her into the custody of the federal +troops again and this time she was ordered to be shot, but was +banished. Once more she was captured, once more ordered shot, and once +more ordered banished by President Lincoln. Then she went to London +where she married Lieutenant Harding who had once caused her capture, +creating an international sensation. After his death she married again +and after the demise of her second husband wedded Mr. High at Detroit. +While with a theatrical company in Kilbourn in 1900, death unexpectedly +came and now with each returning Memorial Day flowers are placed upon +her tomb by Northerners--those whom she risked her life to oppose. + + +Indian Mounds + +About three miles southeast of Kilbourn where the highway crosses the +Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad tracks, there are a number of +Indian mounds. The first of these, the Crossing Group, consists of six +conical mounds on an elevation near the road at the river crossing. +Across the creek to the south and near the highway is a conical mound +and along the river bank, quite close to it, other mounds may be seen, +the last holding a commanding view on the high bank. The cultivated +land between the farm house and railroad track shows evidences of +having been a village site. + +Rattlesnake Rock is a high crag on the left. + +In the woods east of the Crossing Group are fifteen earthworks, two +effigy, three linear, and ten oval or burial mounds. These are known as +the Gale Group, for Miss Hattie Gale of Kilbourn. + +Partly in a cultivated field and partly in the woods to the northeast +may be seen the Bennett Group, named for the late H. H. Bennett of +Kilbourn. He it was who made the Dells widely known through his +wonderful photography. Of these Indian memorial the most striking mound +in the group is a bird (north side of the woods) having a wing spread +of 295 feet. + +Between the Crossing Group and Kilbourn are two mounds on the Ole Helle +place. + + +Murder In the Highway + +Early one morning in the autumn of 1869, the body of Schuyler S. Gates +was found under the trees by the side of the highway, about forty rods +from where the Lyndon road leaves the highway leading to Baraboo, less +than a mile southeast of the railroad structure over the river at +Kilbourn. The spot is just east of the bridge which spans the little +creek flowing through the valley into the Wisconsin below the dam. The +killing of Gates was laid at the door of Pat Wildrick, a notorious +desperado of the neighborhood, then confined in jail. His pal, Perry +Richardson, twenty-seven years afterward, was arrested for the shooting +of Gates, but he was not tried because there were no witnesses to +appear against him. Not long after the cruel murder of Gates, while +Wildrick was confined in the jail at Portage, a band of men one night +gained entrance by a ruse and the next morning, as expressed by J. C. +(Shanghai) Chandler, the prisoner was hanging from a tree in such a way +that he could not wipe his nose. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Lower Dells--Site of a Deserted Village--Indian Earthwork--Where They +Danced--Woodland Walk + + +Not so picturesque as the Upper Dells, nevertheless interesting, the +Lower Dells extend two or three miles below the hydro-electric plant at +Kilbourn. The river is broader and the rocks have been cut away to a +greater extent, leaving them hollowed and worn into many shapes. The +most fantastic forms are far down the stream. The Lower Dells may be +visited by boat or may be carefully examined by walking along the shore +in the vicinity of the deserted village of Newport. + +In the order of their appearance, the objects of interest are met, as +one descends the river, as follows: + +Echo Point is where Taylor's Glen is crossed by the railroad and, +standing at the mouth of the tunnel, one may hear his voice come back +as a boomerang out of space. + +Bear's Cave is a recess a little lower on the same side of the river. + +Chimney Rock much resembles the one in the Upper Dells, except for +size, and is located just below Bear's Cave. + +Pulpit Rock is at the water's edge hard by. + +Observation Point gives a view of a magnificent landscape. + +Stultz Rock, on the opposite side of the stream, was a terror to +raftsmen, their craft often being whirled to destruction at this +treacherous location. + +The Hawk's Bill boldly exposes itself to view, the point being known +for many years as Signal Peak. + +The Sugar Bowl, Inkstand, and Lone Rock stand amid the swirling waters +of the stream, boldly battling with the forces of erosion. They are +hard cores which have been left as the river cut its way to the present +level. + +The Cave of the Dark Waters, called by the Indians, Nah-huh-nah, is an +interesting place for the boat to pause. + +Grotto Rock and other places of interest will be pointed out by the +boatman as the craft glides along. + + +A Deserted Village + +Newport, once a noisy, busy place, boasting of two thousand +frontiersmen, and now a deserted village site with but a few cellar +holes to recall its past glory, was located where the highway, +extending east from Delton, joins the Wisconsin River road. The pioneer +village was at the head of navigation, this being given as the excuse +for its appearance, and after an ephemeral existence of but a few +years, passed so completely from view that little remains but a ghostly +recollection of the place. + +Here the rivermen found a breathing place when they re-assembled their +rafts after running the cribs through the gauntlet of the Dells, here +the river steamers halted to unburden their cargoes and assume new +responsibilities for the downward trips; and here the overland stages +drew up at the great Steele tavern to enable the passengers to set foot +on the new El Dorado. There was first a limited village plat which +included a few blocks, but as the excitement grew, divisions and +sub-divisions were added until there was danger of engulfing the +village of Delton and even the cemetery two or three miles away. Those +with a speculative turn, far and near, purchased lots and blocks in the +upstart town, only to have the castle of disappointment fall about +their ears. + +One day the gasconading inhabitants wore an expression of assurance, +the railroad, then approaching, would cross the river into their very +midst, and some of them did not hesitate to place fabulous valuations +on their property, but ere they were aware land had been purchased +where Kilbourn is located and a rival village sprung up almost in a +night, dashing the hopes of those residing in Newport. When the +railroad was built on the other side of the river, their spirits went +to the very depths. An effort was made to revive the hopes of those +with homes there, and one night there was a real "resurrection." +Speeches were made in defiance of the railroad magnates who dared to +attempt to obliterate their existence, songs were sung to cheer the +crestfallen, and a mammoth cake, blazing with many candles, graced the +banquet board. + +All efforts were without avail, however, and it was not long before +there was a procession of buildings moving like prehistoric monsters +across the landscape, to Kilbourn and elsewhere. Where there was much +dancing and delight there is now naught but an air of desertion and +dreams. + +Although Newport is as dead as Caesar's ghost, much remains of +interest. North of the bridge which spans Dell Creek are clumps of +lilac bushes, flanking half-filled cellar holes, where once stood +pioneer homes, the lilacs persisting since the disaster to the village +in the late sixties. Trees have taken possession of the main street of +the town, and where the proud villagers once discussed their fortunes +and misfortunes, there is slumberous delight. + +Near the crest of the elevation in the woods about equally distant from +the river, bridge, and highway, is a cave where the brewer stored his +bibulous product for the intemperate tipplers. The chiseled cavity in +the sandstone rock persists to this day. + +A beautiful walk leads to the north, following the river bank, once +frequented by rivermen, and no doubt by Indians, as they threaded the +trail in early times. + +Over on the highway to the left, a quarter of a mile from the Dell +Creek bridge, stands "Dawn", the old Vanderpool residence, remodeled by +the late S. H. Kerfoot of Chicago. It is the only home remaining in +that section of the village. + +Passing the bridge or other favored spots on the shore, one may see +fishermen contentedly waiting for a pickerel or pike oblivious to the +passing of time and the passer-by. + + +Indian Earthwork + +At the rear of one of the cottages south of the bridge may be seen an +Indian mound of the lizard type. It has survived the trials and +tribulations of this interesting place. + +A few rods to the south, at the rear of other cottages, a linear mound +may be seen. (As to why mounds were built see chapter on the Man +Mound.) + +As previously noted, the Steele Tavern stood where the road from Delton +joins the main highway. This was one of the famous frontier places of +entertainment for travelers, journeying by stage or prairie schooner +from Milwaukee to La Crosse. For many years, long after the last +inhabitant had reluctantly left Newport, the homely hostelry defied +wind and weather until decay was devouring in every part. Although many +had become accustomed to the landmark for a generation or more, it was +no doubt a relief to all when it was pulled down and carted away. + + +Where They Danced + +During the hop-growing times of the mid-sixties, pickers took +possession of the rambling, old tavern, using it to protect them from +inclement weather and as a place for frolicksome dances after the day's +duties were done. Here resounded the violin, and the prompter's voice, +above the music and gliding feet, was heard, in the quadrille, "The +Girl I Left Behind Me," to sing-- + + "First couple lead to the right, + Stop right there and balance; + Pass right through and balance, too, + And swing with the girl behind you. + Right and left four." + + +A Woodland Walk + +A few rods to the southeast from the cottages, over a stile or two and +across a ravine, runs a road through the deep woods. Here one finds a +delightful walk of a little less than a mile, traversing the arboreal +slope, the sandy river bed, and a weathered rock which, at flood-time, +is an island in the stream. From a projecting point one obtains a view +of the Sugar Bowl, the Inkstand, and other delights of the Lower Dells. + +Just south of the wooded road, at no great distance from the cottages, +a bald hill lifts itself above the surrounding landscape, richly +rewarding one if he decides to gain its treeless crest. + +[Illustration: BRIDGE ACROSS DELL CREEK] + +Although Newport was a noisy, busy place, crowded with adventurers +seeking the gold at the foot of the elusive rainbow, stirred with +martial music as the soldiers of the sixties drilled on the Vanderpool +green and departed for southern conflict fields, alive with the +rivermen who came and went with the departing of each vernal season, +the past gives an emphasis to the stilness that broods over it today. + +No wonder summer cottagers seek the quiet here. The lingering +associations, the pleasant pathways, the changing river, with summer +clouds floating across the sky are fascinations not to be painted in +words. + +[Illustration: COLDWATER CANYON +(Upper Dells.)] + +[Illustration: SUGAR BOWL +(Lower Dells.)] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Mirror Lake, Retreat of a Circusman--Earlier Bed of Dell +Creek--Congress Hall Near Village + + +At the edge of the village of Delton, ten miles north of Baraboo, on +Trunk Line 12, Dell Creek once flowed unhampered through a narrow +canyon of unusual beauty. When a dam was thrown across the slender +stream, a lovely lake, whose placid bosom mirrors daily the changing +verdure of its banks, was created, some three miles in length. Boatmen +make regular trips on the lake, always before nightfall as the narrow +course requires expert piloting. So quiet are the waters that every +detail of sky and shore and passing craft are reflected therein; often +there is not a ripple, not a cat's paw to mar the mirror. The banks, +which are high and rocky, are covered with a dense growth of pine, +cedar, hemlock and many other varieties of timber. Underneath is a +wonderful carpet of ferns and wild flowers from the meshes of which +occasional rabbit or squirrel emerges, or the drumming of a partridge +is heard, to divert the attention. + +Many cottages are hidden among the trees, but a few being visible from +the water's edge. Most of them have an outlook over the lake but are +not easily discerned through the wealth of foliage. Occasionally one is +seen perched on an outstanding rock, thereby gaining a charming view of +the lake. The resinous atmosphere created by the heavy growth of pine +is particularly refreshing to the city dwellers who come to this lake +in increasing numbers, season after season. The slopes of the lake are +the home of the trailing arbutis whose delicate pink blossoms, half +hidden, half exposed, are eagerly sought by visitors in early spring. + +Of cultivated land one sees but little, and that in the hazy distance. +The axe has remained at a respectful distance from the shore, leaving +the slopes native clad. + +The best fishing grounds are where the lake throws an arm to the left, +as one ascends the wild watery defile. Usually one may see disciples of +Walton grasping their rods, indifferent to the torrid sun or drenching +rain. The patient anglers cast their lines right and left, frequently +luring an unsuspecting bass or smaller fry from the undisturbed depths. + +Before glacial ice covered a great portion of Wisconsin, Dell Creek +probably flowed in a southeasternly direction through a gap in the +north range of the Baraboo Bluffs and emptied into the Baraboo River at +Baraboo. Its old bed being filled, in a manner similar to the Wisconsin +River at the Dells, it was forced to seek a new course and cut a canyon +through the sandstone formation. + + +Places of Interest + +A ride from end to end brings into view the following interesting +features: + +The Devil's Postoffice is in a recess at the mouth of a ravine. + +The Devil's Five Fingers are all that is visible of a sunken tree. The +limbs have been protruding from the water for almost half a century. + +Echo Rock is a high promontory on the left, a distinct echo being heard +opposite this interesting feature. + +Fern Dell is one of the most attractive places in the whole region. + +[Illustration: SCENE AT MIRROR LAKE] + +The narrow valley, with overhanging crags and luxuriant verdure, +astonishes the beholder. + + +Retreat of Great Circusman + +The erection of a commodious hotel in Delton by Mrs. Eliza Ringling, +adds to the convenience of those desiring to visit the popular resort. +Mrs. Ringling's late husband, Al. Ringling, eldest of the circusmen, +spent many delightful days in his cottage in the woods at the upper end +of this attractive inland body of water. + + +Congress Hall + +A short distance east of the village of Delton, on the south side of +the highway leading to the Wisconsin river, is Congress Hall. Here a +rivulet has cut a ravine, much of the work evidently having been done +in times long past, when there was more water than at present flowing +along the course. Early in the spring a creek finds its way through the +narrow gorge, but in late summer, after the May showers and June rains +have passed, one may explore the elongated, eroded canyon without +inconvenience from moisture. The Hall is wildly broken and much +distorted in its windings. Often there are spacious openings as if for +rooms, narrow passages leading into other chambers sufficiently ample +for a congress to gather. These views are quite different from others +in the region and will well repay a visit. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Pewit's Nest Near Baraboo--Home of a Recluse--Skillet Falls--Graves of +Napoleon Soldiers + + +But a trifle over three miles from Baraboo, in the early 40's, a queer +enigmatical character secreted himself in the rocky recesses of Pewit's +Nest. To this wildering abode he unexpectedly came, lived for a time, +and mysteriously disappeared like a phantom or will-o'-the-wisp. + +After rumbling over the bridge at the Island Woolen mill, climbing the +curved incline, and passing over the viaduct above the railroad tracks, +the course to Pewit's Nest follows the main highway which turns here to +the right for a half a mile and another half mile to the left. Leaving +the main road, No. 12, the course follows a mile to the right climbing +the terminal moraine and crossing the outwash plain--and still another +half mile to the left the journey brings the visitor to a little rural +school-building by the roadside, the place to abandon the car. Here +Skillet Creek has cut a wide-mouthed valley or pocket, Pewit's Nest +being a quarter of a mile to the left of the main road. + +Sward-sided cellar holes are all that remain of a few rude dwellings +built about a primitive mill. At one time the jaws at the mouth of the +Nest supported a great iron shaft, a cumbersome overshot waterwheel +deliberately delivering the contents of the creek, by means of its +buckets, into the pool below. In the process logs were converted into +lumber, a painfully tedious operation. + + +A Queer Abode + +Before building the mill, however, there dwelt in a recess of the solid +sandstone, an ingenious and eccentric character whose presence and +unusual behavior gave the name to the place. In his "Outline Sketches" +W. H. Canfield, local historian, who located on Skillet Creek in 1842, +says the abode of this individual was ten feet above a deep pool of +water, dug out by the fail of the creek over the crest of the resisting +formation. The approach to this nearly secreted habitation was either +through a trap door in the roof, or a trap-door in the floor. If one +entered through the roof it was by clambering down the rocky wall to +the opening, and if through the floor it was by means of a floating +bridge upon the pool, a ladder at its end leading to the trap-door in +the floor. The little shop could not be seen from the mouth of the +canyon, or from the top, or from any direction but one, hence by the +early settlers was dubbed the "Pewee" or "Pewit's Nest." + +Here the recluse repaired watches, clocks, guns, and occasionally +farming utensils, even essaying to manufacture the latter in a rude +way. Lathes he had for turning iron and wood, the power for propelling +being provided from an old fashioned centrifugal water wheel, itself as +much of a curiosity as its owner. A large coffee mill, likewise a +grindstone, was arranged to operate by the water that was forever +collecting in the upper valley and pouring through the shady dell. It +is said that this hermit of the hill could tell a lively tale and +dispelled the gloom of loneliness by playing upon a violin. At times, +forsooth, he was persuaded to preach for the Mormon church, although +his activities in this direction were never pronounced. Among his other +accomplishments, he posed as a doctor and prescribed as remedies the +herbs and shrubs growing in the valleys and on the hills about. + +His favorite place of abode seems to have been the border of a new +country and when the settlements among the Baraboo Bluffs became too +numerous, he as quietly and mysteriously disappeared from his queer +home at Pewit's Nest as he had come. + +[Illustration: SKILLET FALLS] + + +Skillet Falls + +Skillet Falls is located about a mile above where the stream tumbles +into the pool at the head of the peaceful valley and may be reached by +following the creek through woods and fields, or by approaching through +the farmyard of Dwight Welch on Trunk Line 12. This place of interest +was named by Levi Moore from the "Skillets" or water-worn holes in the +sandstone rock, looking much like basins or iron vessels used in +cooking. + + +Stream With Two Beds + +Before the time of the glacial epoch Skillet Creek probably emptied +into the Baraboo River where the city of Baraboo is located, two or +three miles below the present confluence. The moraine material filled a +portion of the bed of the stream and after the ice receded it was +forced to find a new course near where three roads meet, a short +distance above Skillet Falls. The upper portion of Skillet Creek +tumbles down the Baraboo Bluffs over a bed which dates to Potsdam times +while the lower portion is of much more recent origin, something +unusual in the history of streams. This interruption in its career has +resulted in the picturesque waterfalls. From the highway east of +Skillet Creek one has a view of the terminal moraine to the east and of +the highly productive outwash plain. + + +Marched With Napoleon + +Continuing on the highway a mile west of Pewit's Nest one observes a +rural burying ground on the slope of Rock Hill. A little south of the +center in Rock Hill Cemetery sleep two soldiers who marched with +Napoleon in his world-disrupting European conquests. On a marble stone +one reads: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* Michael Hirschinger * +* Died * +* March 20, 1853 * +* Age 67 Years * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +The father of former Assemblyman Charles Hirschinger, this soldier's +most thrilling experience was his march to Moscow in the fall of 1812 +and his retreat with the great Corsican. Half a million men marched +triumphantly into the beautiful city, only to have it reduced to ashes +in their very presence. This meant the destruction of Napoleon's army. +The soldier often retold the retreat through the Polish snows, +recalling that some of his comrades, after crossing streams, perished +in the snow. + +The tomb of Mrs. Hirschinger is near that of her husband. + +Near the grave of Michael Hirschinger one reads on a stone about all +that is known of still another Napoleon soldier: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* Michael Nippert * +* Died * +* May 23, 1864 * +* Age 70 Years, 2 Months * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +As to his martial deeds but little is recorded. By his side sleeps his +wife. + +Napoleon went to St. Helena; Hirschinger and Nippert came to the +Baraboo Hills. + + +Hirschinger Spring + +A mile and a quarter south of the cemetery, where the road bends to +avoid plunging into it, a spring of delicious water bursts from the +hillside and escapes into the quietude of a wooded dale. This obscure +valley is known as Pine Hollow and the tortuous streamlet, which finds +its way for almost a mile through the towering timber of this +delightful retreat, is known as Pine Creek. Ferns, mosses, and certain +varieties of wild flowers hide the gray of the rocks which are piled +high above the stream. The dale is one of great attractiveness to a +loiterer through this unfrequented wood of the Baraboo Hills. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Man Mound, Famous Archeological Wonder--Why Indian Earthworks Were +Built + + +The famous man mound, a few miles northeast of Baraboo, is the most +interesting archeological feature of the region. This earthwork is +shaped like a giant human figure and is the only known Indian monument +of this nature in the world. + + +A Deer Mound + +On the way to the site of the man mound, a deer mound may be visited at +727 Eighth Street, Baraboo, (on Trunk Line 33, Baraboo to Portage) in +an oak grove, on land owned by Mrs. Catherine Crandall Train. The rear +portion of this mound, a rare effigy, was destroyed a number of years +ago. A linear mound may be seen just back of the effigy. + +Continuing on the trunk line two miles, a turn is made to the left, the +highway approaching a rugged elevation on the left side of the road. +This outcrop of sandstone is known locally as Rocky Point or Violet +Hill, from the abundance of violets which carpet its slopes in the +spring. Violent Hill would perhaps be a better appellation as the point +has been responsible for a number of serious accidents. Early in the +history of this region a bold frontiersman made the wrong turn, because +of a maudlin mind acquired in the village by overindulgence in rum, and +his wagon, tipping over, his life was snuffed out on the rocks. + +About the year 1870 another devotee of Bacchus became a sacrifice. +Before his team had reached the top of the hill this confused +husbandman, thinking he was at the turn in the road, directed his +horses into the rocks and by the overturning of his wagon-box, was +killed. + +Another victim was an employee of a hop yard located near the man +mound. One night this individual walked down the slope north of the +hill but instead of following the highway skirting the rocks, he walked +directly over the crest. Stepping into the darkness, he fell headlong +down the declivity barely escaping death. + +Only a few years since, a driver and team came down this same north +slope in a snow storm. The snowdrifts were deep and the driver finally +abandoned his conveyance, walking behind his horses in an endeavor to +follow the road. Blinded by the falling snow and confused by the +drifts, man and team plunged over the cliff and were only saved from +destruction by the abundance of snow. So deep were the drifts that +little could be seen of the horses after the tumble, except their ears. + + +The Man Mound. + +The journey now leads a fraction of a mile farther up the north range +of the Baraboo Bluffs, then a mile to the east to Man Mound Park, the +central object of which is the famous man mound. + +The length of the mound is 214 feet and width at the shoulder 48 feet. +In order to assemble this large amount of earth the Indians, having +neither shovels nor iron tools of any kind, used bark or other baskets, +scrapers of wood or stone, and their hands. The observer will realize +with what labor and under what difficulties the workers accomplished +their task. When the Indians were gathered here, in camp they, with +their activity and fantastic dress, must have presented an unusual +picture in the boundless wilderness. + +[Illustration] + +The man mound was located and platted by W. H. Canfield, local +surveyor, historian, and archeologist, July 23, 1859. The original +survey is now in the possession of the Sauk County Historical Society. +The name of the discoverer of this earthwork has been lost in the +dimness of time. When the highway was graded a number of years ago the +lower part of the legs were destroyed and subsequently the feet, for +years beneath a board fence on the north side of the road, were +leveled. Why the mound was built is explained near the close of this +article. + +On August 7, 1908, the Man Mound Park was formally dedicated at a joint +state assembly of the Wisconsin Archeological Society and Sauk County +Historical Society, the bronze tablet, a gift by J. Van Orden of +Baraboo, being unveiled at that time. Previously the land had been +purchased by the two societies and the Landmarks Committee of the +Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs. + + +Region Rich in Indian Mounds. + +In primeval times the Baraboo region was rich in Indian mounds and, +although the plow has been active since the 40's and 50's of the last +century, many of the aboriginal earthworks still remain. They were +erected by the savages on hillside and on plain, by lake, stream, and +on the upland, in the deep forest and on the open prairie. They are the +relics of a people now disappearing and are of ever increasing interest +to the investigating archeologist. + +The theory was at one time advanced that a pre-Indian race, the Mound +Builders, constructed the earthworks, but modern archeologists have +disproved the idea of the existence of any such a pre-historic people, +holding the builders of the mounds were none other than the Indians. It +is believed the Winnebago are the authors of the majority of the +earthworks found in Wisconsin. The great number of these heaps of earth +scattered over the country indicate a considerable Indian population +extending over no small period of time. + +Indian mounds or tumuli are of various forms and, with few exceptions, +may be classed as round or conical, elongate or wall-like pyramidal, +and effigy or emblematic mounds. The conical mounds in the United +States vary in height from scarcely a perceptible swell to elevation of +80 and sometimes 100 feet. Ours are smaller the highest not over 25 +feet. Those in the Baraboo region seldom exceed in height of 2, 3, or 4 +feet. In the conical mounds the Indians often buried their dead and +sometimes one, two, or three layers of charcoal are found above the +remains, indicating that fires, probably of a ceremonial nature, had +burned over the dead. + +The long or wall-like mounds are earthworks of a usual length of 30 to +300 feet, in extreme cases the wall having a maximum extension of 800 +or 900 feet. Linear mounds are found in the effigy mound region. + +Pyramidal mounds are not found in the Baraboo country. + +The effigy mounds represent animal forms, and, with few exceptions, are +confined to Wisconsin and contiguous portions of neighboring states. +The famous serpent mound and several other animal-shaped earthworks are +located in Ohio and two bird mounds are in Georgia. Effigy mounds vary +from 3 to 4 to 500 feet in length and in height from a few inches to 5 +or 6 feet. Burials were rarely made in these mounds which have the +outline of the deer, bear, lizard, turtle, eagle, swallow, frog, or +other forms of animal life. Indians are divided into clans and most +effigy mounds are believed by archeologists to be the emblems of these. +In order to perpetuate the clan idea, the Indians constructed about +their places of residence the mounds symbolic of their clans, thousands +of these earthen elevations being scattered over southern Wisconsin. + +The deer mound at the home of Mrs. Train is a clan emblem but +archeologists believe the effigy in Man Mound Park an Indian deity. + +Mounds of all types, in the eastern part of Sauk County, numbered over +600, according to a survey made by Dr. A. B. Stout about 1905. Many of +the mounds have been leveled by the plow and cultivator. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Stone Pillar of Chief Yellow Thunder and His Squaw, Situated a Few +Miles North of Baraboo + + +Passing the Baraboo Cemetery and continuing for a distance of five +miles north of Baraboo, Yellow Thunder's Pillar is situated where two +roads cross. The stone monument stands but a short distance from where +the old chief traversed an Indian trail and not far from where he died +and was buried. On one side appears the following inscription: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* YELLOW THUNDER * +* Chief of the Winnebago * +* Born 1774--Died 1874 * +* ---- * +* And His Squaw * +* Died 1868 * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +Yellow Thunder, a noted warrior and chief of the Winnebago, was "to the +manor born." With his tribe he probably took part, on the side of the +British, in the War of 1812. + +He was buried three days after he had passed to the happy hunting +grounds, his body laid in a box in a horizontal position with face to +the west, and his pipe and various trinkets around. His squaw was +interred in similar fashion except that the body was placed in a +sitting position. The ceremonies in both instances were conducted by +Indians, white neighbors assisting only in bearing the bodies to the +graves. + +Yellow Thunder is said to have been a "man of great respectability +among his people, and an able councilor in all their public affairs. He +was a zealous Catholic." + +In an interview, (see Wisconsin Historical Collections) Moses Paquette +said of him that he was a fine looking Indian, tall, straight, and +stately, but had an overweening love for firewater. This was his only +vice. + + +Forcibly Removed + +[Illustration: YELLOW THUNDER] + +In 1840 the Indians from this section were forcibly removed by United +States troops under the command of Colonel Worth, down the Wisconsin +River in boats and canoes to lands west of the Mississippi river. +Yellow Thunder and others were invited to Portage to obtain provisions, +but instead of that, according to John T. de la Ronde, "were put into +the guardhouse, with ball and chain, which hurt the feelings of the +Indians very much, as they had done no harm to the government." It is +said Yellow Thunder felt the disgrace so keenly he wept. They were +afterwards released and taken down the river. + +Yellow Thunder, his squaw, and others, however, soon returned, walking +some 50 miles and arriving amid familiar scenes before the troops that +had taken them away came back. The chief secured forty acres in the +town of Fairfield from the government and there he spent much of his +time until his death in 1874. + +After the demise of his squaw in 1868, Yellow Thunder lived but little +in the log house which stood about three-fourths of a mile northeast of +the pillar. A few weeks before his death in November, he located his +tent on the bank of the Wisconsin river about a mile north of his land +in the woods. Here the neighbors ministered to his simple wants, death +resulting from an injury to one of his knees, followed by blood poison. + + +Pillar Erected + +In 1909, it was decided by members of the Sauk County Historical +Society to remove the remains of Yellow Thunder and his squaw to a new +location, fearing that by clearing and cultivating the land the graves +would become obliterated. An excavation was made, the bones were placed +in a large vitrified tile, and the cairn erected, the earthen +receptacle becoming a part of the boulder-made ossuary. Here, near a +familiar trail, not far from the white neighbors with whom the Indians +often mingled and sometimes ate, the remains rest in this enduring +sepulcher. + + +From Waubun + +The following incidents taken from Wau-Bun, a narrative of the early +days at Fort Winnebago, by Mrs. J. H. Kinzie, show some of the +characteristics of the squaw of Yellow Thunder. + +Among the women with whom I early made acquaintance was the wife of +Wau-kaun-zee-kah, the Yellow Thunder. She had accompanied her husband, +who was one of the deputation to visit the President, and from that +time forth she had been known as "the Washington woman." She had a +pleasant, old-acquaintance sort of air in greeting me, as much as to +say, "You and I have seen something of the world." No expression of +surprise or admiration escaped her lips, as her companions, with +childlike laughing simplicity, exclaimed and clapped their hands at the +different wonderful objects I showed them. Her deportment said plainly, +"Yes, yes, my children, I have seen all these things before." It was +not until I put to her ear a tropical shell of which I had a little +cabinet, and she heard its murmuring sound, that she laid aside her +apathy of manner. She poked her finger into the opening to get at the +animal within, shook it violently, then raised it to her ear again, and +finally burst into a hearty laugh, and laid it down, acknowledging by +her looks, that this was beyond her comprehension. + +I had one shell of peculiar beauty--my favorite in the whole +collection--a small conch, covered with rich, dark veins. Each of the +visitors successively took up this shell, and by words and gestures +expressed her admiration, evidently showing that she had an eye for +beauty--this was on the occasion of the parting visit of my red +daughters. + +Shortly after the payment had been completed and the Indians had left, +I discovered that my valued shell was missing from the collection. +Could it be that one of the squaws had stolen it? It was possible--they +would occasionally, though rarely do such things under the influence of +strong temptation. I tried to recollect which among the party, looked +most likely to have been the culprit. It could not have been the +Washington woman--she was partly civilized and knew better. + +A few weeks afterward Mrs. Yellow Thunder again made her appearance and +carefully unfolding a gay colored chintz shawl, which she carried +rolled up in her hand, she produced the shell, and laid it on the table +before me. I did not know whether to show by my countenance displeasure +at the trick she had played me, or joy at receiving my treasure back +again, but at last decided it was the best policy to manifest no +emotion whatever. + +She prolonged her visit until my husband's return, and he then +questioned her about the matter. + +"She had taken the shell to her village, to show to some of her people, +who did not come to the payment." + +"Why had she not asked her mother's leave before carrying it away?" + +"Because she saw that her mother liked the shell, and she was afraid +she would say, No." + +This was not the first instance in which Madame Washington had +displayed the shrewdness which was a predominant trait in her +character. During the visit of the Indians to the Eastern cities, they +were taken to various exhibitions, museums, menageries, theatres, etc. +It did not escape their observation that some silver was always paid +before entrance and they inquired the reason. It was explained to them. +The woman brightened up as if struck with an idea. + +"How much do you pay for each one?" + +Her father told her. + +"How do you say that in English?" + +"Two shillings." + +"Two shinnin----humph" (good). + +The next day, when as usual, visitors began to flock to the rooms where +the Indians were sojourning, the woman and a young Indian, her +confederate, took their station by the door, which they kept closed. +When any one knocked, the door was cautiously opened, and the woman, +extending her hand exclaimed--"Two shinnin." + +This was readily paid in each instance, and the game went on, until +she had accumulated a considerable sum. But this did not satisfy her. +At the first attempt of a visitor to leave the room, the door was held +close, as before, the hand was extended, and "two shinnin" again met +his ear. He tried to explain that, having paid for his entrance, he +must go out free. With an innocent shake of the head, "Two shinnin" was +all the English she could understand. + +The agent, who had entered a short time before, and who overhearing the +dialogue, sat laughing behind his newspaper, waiting to see how it +would all end, now came forward and interfered, and the guests were +permitted to go forth without further contribution. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Portage and Old Fort Winnebago--Cemetery Where Soldiers of Several Wars +Are Buried--Waubun House + + +When Wisconsin was on the frontier, as a protection against the +Indians, three forts were built--Fort Howard at Green Bay, Fort +Crawford at Prairie du Chien, and Fort Winnebago at Portage. The +central object of interest in this little journey is the early outpost +at the Fox-Wisconsin portage. + +Leaving Baraboo on Trunk Line 33, leading directly east of the city, +where open fields now greet the eye on either side, was once a treeless +tract known as Peck's Prairie. This was named for Eben Peck, an early +settler whose residence was on the present highway a short distance +west of the fair ground. + + +Roche Moutonnee + +After passing a road which turns to the left and leads to the man +mound, a roche moutonnee, sheep shaped surface of the quartzite, may be +seen about a half-mile to the left. The surface of the outcrop was +rounded during the invasion of the glacial ice into this region. + +Just before reaching the Baraboo River the road swings to the left, +approaching the talused slope of the rugged north range of the Baraboo +Bluffs. Two species of cacti grow on the summit here, also to the +west--Opuntia humifusa, the western prickly pear, and Opuntia fragilis, +the brittle opuntia. + +The road runs on the verge of a dry ravine, where an Indian effigy +mound reposes on the opposite bank, near the Baraboo River. Other +mounds were to the west and an Indian ford crossed the stream here. +About 1906 an Indian skeleton was unearthed on the bank of the gully, +nearly opposite the farmstead. + + +Garrisonville + +In the region about the ravine, Mrs. Ann Garrison, in pioneer times, +laid out a paper city, much to the regret of lot purchasers in +Philadelphia and elsewhere. The sawmill, the pottery, the hotel, and +the "salted" gold mine are but memories now. + +The gap where the river escapes from the valley into the lowland to the +north, has a geological history similar to that of Devil's Lake. No +talus covers the slopes, however, the loose stones having been swept +away when the ice sheet flowed slowly through in glacial times. + + +An Ancient Lava Bed + +At seven localities about the outer margin of the quartzite region, +igneous rocks have been found--at Alloa, near the Devil's Nose, at +Baxter's Hollow, three near Denzer and the Lower Narrows. + +By far the largest area, fully described by Professor Samuel Weidman in +"The Baraboo Iron-Bearing District," is found at the Lower Narrows, +distributed over the width of more than half a mile along the north +slope, to the east and west of the gap. At the bridge the road to the +left leads to a point less than a mile distant, here the igneous rock +or rhyolite comes boldly within a few feet of the highway. By climbing +upon the ledge one stands on a surface older than the Baraboo Hills, +older than any deposit in the whole region. As lava the rhyolite +flowed, then cooled and during the upheaval of the north range was +forced upon its edge, remaining so to this day. Upon this cooled lava +the whole later geologic formation of the region rests--to be upon it +is to be upon the floor of the world. + +[Illustration: JEFFERSON DAVIS] + + +Road Hugs the Bluff + +Eastward from the bridge over the Baraboo River, the highway hugs the +bluff. A few Indian mounds may be seen less than half a mile to the +north after passing the first farm house. To the east of these mounds +the skeletons of about sixty Indians were uncovered when one was +leveled a number of years ago. The Indian corpses had been seated in a +circle and buried in one heap of earth. Evidently there had been a +battle or pestilence amongst them. + +[Illustration: FORT WINNEBAGO IN 1834] + + Reduced facsimile of oil painting by Ira A. Ridgeway of + Portage in 1896, based on contemporary plans and + recollections of early settlers. The view is from the + southwest. The building to the right of the gate is the + guardhouse; to the left, the armory. On the opposite side of + the square, to the left, were the officers' quarters. The + peakedroof building at the left corner was a blockhouse, and + a similar structure was in the corner diagonally opposite. + The magazine appears in the corner adjacent to the + guardhouse, and at its side to the right were soldiers' + quarters. The chapel was in the corner diagonally opposite + the magazine, but is not visible; as is the case with some + of the other smaller buildings. The log building near the + end of the bridge over the Fox river, to the right, was + Henry Merrell's sutler's store. The low structure a little + to the east was the ice cellar. A little further along was + the surgeon's headquarters and to the right the hospital. In + the distance, looking between the hospital and surgeon's + quarters, may be seen the old stone bakery; the blacksmith + shop and the carpenter shop were close by, but do not appear + in the picture. At the left of the bridge is a commissary + building; just to its rear was Jones's store, a portion is + discernible. Beyond the fort to the left (out of the above + picture) was a log theatre. Still further to the left, was + the Indian Agency building. An enormous well was in the + exact center of the stockade. It is in use at the present + time. + + * * * * * + +To the right of the highway are many hidden beauty spots all along the +way to the Baraboo River, especially where the streams come down from +the high land above. The most attractive of these is Fox's Glen, to the +right and just east of the rural school building facing the river. + +The high ground on the right, just before crossing the bridge over the +Wisconsin River, is the site of an Indian village. The pioneers crossed +the river here on a ferry, the first bridge being built in 1857. It was +destroyed by a cyclone in 1903, and the present structure was then +erected. + + +Home of an Author + +After entering West Cook Street, the main thoroughfare of Portage, and +reaching the third street to the right, the car should be swung one +block south to pass the home of Miss Zona Gale. The residence, 506 West +Canal Street, is southern colonial in architecture, and stands on the +bank of the winding Wisconsin, the rear lawn sloping back to the +waterway. + + +Scene of a Dark Deed + +One block to the left and one block to the north, brings the visitor to +the intersection of West Cook and Mac Streets; here Pierre Pauquette, +the Indian trader, interpreter, and portager was killed by an +aborigine. The deed was committed, it is said, a little southwest of +the intersection of the streets. + +Pauquette was one of the most picturesque figures in the early days of +Wisconsin, indissolubly identified with those who cast their lot at the +portage. + + +Monument to Discoverers + +Crossing the canal bridge near the Wisconsin River and continuing south +several blocks, a granite monument marks the place where Jacques +Marquette and Louis Joliet, the first white men to visit this region, +crossed the portage on June 14, 1673, and floated down the Wisconsin. + +Many noted persons crossed the portage in early times. Duluth and +Hennepin were here in 1680 and Nicolas Perrot, the Baron Lahontan, and +Charles Pierre Le Sueur were three famous travelers in the late +seventeenth century. An expedition to build a French fort on the upper +Mississippi, passed here in 1727; Johnathan Carver tells of his visit +in 1766; and here was the rendezvous for Indian forces during the +American Revolution. An expedition against St. Louis gathered here in +1780. Then came the much passing of troops between Fort Howard at Green +Bay and Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien. Here in 1827 occurred the +dramatic surrender of Red Bird, bringing to a close the Winnebago War. + +In 1793 Laurent Barth came to transport baggage with oxen, in 1801-2 +Augustin Grignon wintered at the portage as a fur trader, and in 1810 +the overland division of the Astorian expedition to the Pacific coast +went westward over this historic route. + +During the war of 1812 Robert Dixon, British Indian agent, collected +his savage allies at this point; and the expedition which drove the +Americans from Prairie du Chien, passed thither in 1814. By this route +the British forces, following the treaty of Ghent, retreated in 1815. + + +An Early Hostelry + +Carpenter's place was on the corner to the south of the monument. In a +building near the pioneer hotel, Abe Wood killed Pawnee Blanc, buried +in a mound near the Portage-end of the Wisconsin River bridge. + +Continuing on Bronson Avenue to the east and after crossing the +railroad tracks, the location of the Franklin House may be seen +several rods to the right. A large elm tree with a small house back of +it marks the location of the pioneer Portage hotel where dignitaries of +the early days were entertained. + +The Riverbend Place, the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Stace, is the last +house before crossing the Fox River. To the rear of this house is where +Henry Merrill, the sutler of Fort Winnebago, resided. + + +Fort Winnebago + +After crossing the stream, the location of the commissary building of +the fort will be observed a few rods to the left. Goods from boats +plying the Fox were unloaded into the building; a fragment of the wall +still remains, hidden in the weeds and grass. + +The frame house to the right, somewhat modified, was the fort hospital. + +The well at the farmstead at the left was in the center of Fort +Winnebago when completed in 1830. The portage was made a military post +in 1828, Major David E. Twiggs erecting the fortification. During the +Black Hawk War the outpost was useful in checking the hostile +tribesmen, it remained a garrison until 1845, and was sold in 1853, the +nineteen and fifteen-hundredths acres bringing $23.94. The old deed is +in the Portage Library. + +Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward president of the United States, +visited the fort with Captain Hugh Brady, Indian fighter, in 1836, and +Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, later president of the confederacy, came +with the military force to construct and garrison the place. Judge D. +Doty, afterward territorial governor, often was there, while General +Lewis Cass, and Captain Frederick Marryat, celebrated English novelist, +were among the many noted visitors. Miss Marcy, later the wife of +General George B. McClellan, was a child here, the daughter of a +lieutenant. + + +The Old Cemetery + +Continuing on the central of the three roads about a quarter of a mile, +the Fort Winnebago cemetery will be found in a grove to the right. Near +the west fence is the grave of Cooper Pixley, a soldier of the +Revolution, who died in 1855, aged 86. + +A little to the east is the grave of William Sylvester, a soldier of +the War of 1812, and the first mayor of Portage. He was born October +28, 1792, and died November 20, 1875. His two wives sleep beside him. + +Near the center of the cemetery is the grave of Henry Carpenter, a +soldier in the Black Hawk War, and hard by are the graves of Civil War +veterans, while the body of Archie White Eagle, a Winnebago Indian +veteran of the World War, also sleeps in the enclosure. + +Those who died in the fort are buried along the south fence. The boards +marking their graves burned years ago and their locations are now lost. + +Some of the graves in the cemetery are those who came to the lead +region in early times and later to the portage. + +Returning toward Portage, cross the canal at the eastern extremity of +the city, turn sharply to the right and follow the road on the bank of +the artificial waterway to the Agency or Waubun House, now owned by +Attorney E. S. Baker. John H. Kinzie came with his bride to the portage +in 1830 and this house was soon after erected for them. Mrs. Kinzie +brought her piano up the Fox River in a boat, mention of which is made +in her delightful Wau-Bun. + +Near the Agency House Four Legs, chief of the Winnebago, was buried. + +The lock where the canal joins the Fox is a short distance to the east +of the historic house, and the blacksmith shop was in the field forty +rods or more to the west. + + +Burial Place of Pauquette + +Returning along the canal, crossing the railroad, and traversing East +Cook street near the center of the city, a turn is made to the right at +the Baptist Church. Between the church and the parsonage to the rear +stood the first French Mission between Depere and Prairie du Chien, +erected with logs by Pierre Pauquette in 1833-34. He was killed by an +Indian in 1836 and beneath the rude place of worship was buried. +According to a tablet on the parsonage, the remains of Pauquette were +exhumed in 1904. They now repose in the Catholic cemetery. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Boyhood Haunts of John Muir, the Naturalist--Fountain Lake--Father a +Disciple--the Muir Family + + +Before making this journey, by all means read "My Boyhood and Youth," +by John Muir, naturalist and author, a cherished volume in public +libraries. To visit an historic spot or home of a famous character +without familiarizing oneself with the associations and incidents that +make the place of interest, is to lose the keenest enjoyment. What we +fully appreciate, affords the greatest delight. Therefore, before +seeking the lake and farm homes once dear to the heart of this Scotch +boy of rare endowments, the mind should be fresh with the details of +his early struggles and attainments as well as those of his later +years. + + +From Baraboo + +Trunk Line 33 takes one from Baraboo to Portage and after leaving the +eastern extremity of the main street in the latter city, the highway +winds over the Fox River, then up a slight incline to where three roads +meet. The one to the left, known as the Montello road, leads to the +earliest Muir home. The historic Fox River is often visible from the +highway. Arriving at the first school building, where Annie and Joanna +Muir, sisters of the naturalist, taught, the road makes a turn to the +right a quarter of a mile, then deflects to the left to another school +located on the right where the Muir children were given instruction +after their arrival in Wisconsin from Scotland in 1849. Neither of the +school buildings is that actually familiar to the Muirs as the early +structures have long since yielded to the ravages of time. + +Just beyond the last named school, some ten miles from Portage, a +little stream murmurs across the highway and a few rods farther on is a +weather-beaten farm house. The stream flows from Ennis or Fountain Lake +to the Fox River and the simple dwelling is near the site of the first +home of the Muirs after their emigration to the western wilderness. + +The old frame house, with its curious hand-carved frieze boards at the +gable ends of the roof, is not the original home of the Muirs, their +pioneer abode being located to the rear of the present domicile. It was +a little farther from the highway and long since destroyed by fire. + +[Illustration: LITTLE JOURNEY TO HOMES OF JOHN MUIR + +(1) Fort Winnebago +(2) Fort Winnebago Cemetery +(3) School Where Annie and Johanna Muir Taught +(4) School Where Muir Children Attended +(5) Fountain Lake, first home of Muir family. +(6) Muir church. +(7) Second home of the Muir family.] + + +The Lake + +But the lake still shimmers in the sun as of old. No ridge of rock +encroaches on its shores, which are low and lush with grasses, ferns +and other vegetation. Over this water John Muir rowed, in it he swam, +and on one occasion nearly lost his life, as related in the story of +his youthful days. The diversions which the lake afforded were never +ending. Muir speaking of it says: "The water was so clear that it was +almost invisible, and when we floated slowly out over the plants and +fishes, we seemed to be miraculously sustained in the air while +silently exploring a veritable fairyland." + +Bluejays, kingbirds, blackbirds, buntings, kingfishers and other +descendants of the feathered comrades of John Muir and his brothers, +still inhabit its shores, delighting the visitor as they flit from tree +to tree. + +Ennis Lake is the name given on the government topographical maps to +this sheet of water but it was known as Fountain Lake when the Muirs +resided there. It should bear the name of Muir. + +This Muir farm is now owned by James McReath, son of the Mr. McReath +(spelled McRath in the book) mentioned by Muir. The present owner of +the old homestead knew the Muir family and will tell the visitor +interesting things about the household. Here it was the pet coon fished +in the sparkling stream and was called "my little man" by the Highland +Scotchman. He would say: + +"Coonie, ma mannie, Coonie, ma mannie, how are ye the day? I think +you're hungry," as the comical pet began to examine his pockets for +nuts and bread,--"Na, na there's na-thing in my pocket for ye the day, +my wee mannie, but I'll get ye something." + +The McReaths came to Wisconsin in 1850, the year following the Muirs. + + +Father a Disciple + +The father of John Muir was of a religious mind, an earnest student of +the Bible. He was a member of the Disciple or Christian Church and +often held services in the Fountain Lake home. + +Returning toward Portage about one mile from the site of the first Muir +home, then going about as far to the east over a sandy road, one +observes a church standing near the tombs in the churchyard. Here it +was that the senior Muir conducted service, no doubt pronouncing the +last rites for some of those who sleep there. The gravestones are +marked with many names familiar to Scotts, among them are Mair, Owen, +Thompson, Graham and McDougal. + +Turning to the right almost a mile, then to the left a slightly greater +distance, brings one to Hickory Hill Farm, the second Muir home. The +house is located some distance from the highway and may be approached +through the farm, either from the south or east. The farm is not as +sandy as the one near the Fox River and when the Muirs came to this +location the father purchased five 80's and a 40 in one tract. The +family occupied the land for many years. While residing here, John Muir +arranged numerous clever contrivances on gates and doors about the farm +and buildings, but none of these remained when, long after he had +become a famous naturalist, he visited the farm about 1898. The house, +with some changes, still stands; the cellar into which John retreated +to study and work remains; the well in which he almost lost his life +yields abundant water; and some of the apple trees planted by the Muirs +rejoice the present owners with juicy fruit each returning autumn. The +barn has been elevated and moved but the old timbers familiar to the +Muir family have withstood the storms of many seasons. Much of the +land on this farm was plowed for the first time by the naturalist and +from this home he went to the University of Wisconsin, loaded with +curious contraptions, to realize after a sojourn there a new world of +natural wonders. + +This farm was sold to John C. McHaffy when the Muirs moved to Portage +and after two years passed to Thomas Kearns, the present owner, who +talks entertainingly of the famous family. + + +The Muir Family + +Father--Daniel Muir, born in England in 1802 or 1803 (date is not +certain), and died in Kansas City, Mo., 1883. + +Mother--Mrs. Daniel Muir, nee Anne Gilrye, born in Dunbar, Scotland, +March 17, 1813; married Daniel Muir, 1833. They were married in Dunbar, +Scotland, and there John Muir was born. Mrs. Muir died in Portage, +Wis., June, 1896. + +The Children-- + +Margaret, born September, 1834; married John Reid, December 1860; died +at Martinez, California, June, 1910. + +Sarah, born February 19, 1836; married David M. Galloway, December, +1856; lives in Pacific Grove, California. + +John, born April 21, 1838; died in Los Angeles, California, December +24, 1914; buried near Martinez, California. + +David Gilrye, born July 11, 1840; died at Pacific Grove, California, +October 28, 1916; buried at Martinez, California. + +Daniel Muir, born June 29, 1843; lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. + +Mary and Annie, twins, born October 5, 1846; Mary married Willis Hand; +her home is at Kearney, Nebraska; Annie died January 15, 1903, at +Portage, Wisconsin, seven years after the demise of her mother. + +Joanna Gilrye, born on September 7, 1850; married L. Walter Brown +September 1, 1880; lives in Ivyland, Pennsylvania. + +Angling is the road from this farm to Portage, a distance of some ten +miles. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Wisconsin Heights Battlefield--About a Mile From Sauk City--Another +Napoleon Soldier Grave + + +The memorable battle of Wisconsin Heights, between U. S. troops and the +famous Indian chief, Black Hawk, and his Sac and Fox warriors, was +fought about a mile southwest of Sauk City. This encounter, so +disastrous to the forces of Black Hawk, took place June 21, 1832, when +Wisconsin still was a part of Michigan territory and settlements were +chiefly in the lead region, now the southwestern section of the state. + +The major portion of the journey to this historic battlefield is over +Trunk Line No. 12, which climbs the terminal moraine two miles +southwest of Baraboo, traverses an outwash plain, crosses Skillet +Creek, rounding the point recorded by geologists as the mouth of an +ancient stream as shown by successive layers of fluvial deposit, and +skirting a bold outcrop of quartzite, ascends the range to the summit +of the bluff. From the elevated highway one obtains a charming view of +beautiful Sauk Prairie where, year after year, the horn of Amalthaea is +most prodigal with gifts. This outwash plain was a veritable paradise +of bloom in the days before the advent of the plow. + + +A Paper Town + +At the bottom of the bluff, between the first and second roads which +course to the right, lies the village plat of New Haven. The surveyor's +map of this "paper" town is preserved in the courthouse in Baraboo. + +The last mile of the road leading into Prairie du Sac follows one of +the oldest highways in the county. It was part of a stage line to +Baraboo in an early day and the progenitor of the present scenic system +of roads among the Baraboo hills. + +Just above the villages of Prairie du Sac and Sauk City, the Wisconsin +River has been harnessed and many thousand horse-power from the great +dam provides light and force for an extensive area. + +From Prairie du Sac the road leads along the river a mile into Sauk +City. The villages have been rivals since they came into existence in +the early 40's, when they were the first centers of population north +and west of the river in this section of the state. Many of the +dwellings in Sauk City follow a fashion in architecture common in +central Europe but rarely seen in this country. + + +Approaching the Heights + +Crossing the Wisconsin River at Sauk City, turning to the right and +following the Mazomanie highway about one mile, a crossroad is reached +beyond which is a small stream spanned by a bridge. Ahead of this +bridge and to the left looms Wisconsin Heights, a rugged elevation from +which the battle between the forces of General Dodge and Black Hawk and +his warriors takes its name. + + +Causes of the Battle + +The causes leading up to the battle of Wisconsin Heights were numerous. +On the Rock River, near its confluence with the Mississippi was the Sac +village, the inhabitants of which were more in sympathy with the +British than the Americans at that time. Treaties had been signed by +the Indians transferring to the whites their common lands but when the +time came for them to give up their holdings, the red men declared +their chiefs had not authority to sign away the territory and refused +to leave. As early as 1823 white squatters enraged Chief Black Hawk and +his people by burning their lodges, destroying their crops, and +insulting their squaws, while the chief and his braves were absent on +the hunt. Black Hawk was advised to seek a village site beyond the +Mississippi to avoid the advancing tide of settlement but the warrior +was obstinate and prepared to fight for his lands. A crisis was reached +in 1830 when pioneers plowed over an Indian cemetery, preempted a +village site, and took possession of the planting grounds of the red +men. Black Hawk, after consulting with the British agent, threatened +the squatters with force, but a military demonstration so frightened +the Indians that they gave up the idea of fighting and fled across the +Mississippi. + + +War Begins + +On April 6, 1832, the Hawk, with about five hundred warriors, mostly +Sac Indians, crossed into Illinois, creating wild excitement in the +settlements there and in Wisconsin. Soon eighteen hundred volunteers, +some mounted and some on foot, were on the march. Black Hawk sent a +note of defiance, retreated up the Rock River, and made a stand at +Stillman's Creek. Disappointed in not receiving assistance from other +tribes, he sent messengers with a white flag to his pursuers, asking +that he might return peaceably beyond the Mississippi. Those bearing +the white flag were brutally slain by the militia, Black Hawk was +enraged, and from an ambush routed a larger party, killing a number and +wounding others. + +About this time settlers were killed at a number of places and the name +of Black Hawk was connected with every stump, tree, and projecting rock +in the region. The entire section was terrified. Forts sprang up at a +dozen place and additional troops were summoned. + +In the meantime Black Hawk moved up Rock River to near Lake Koshkonong +and, being hotly pursued, retreated with his warriors and the women and +children to the present site of the city of Madison. + + +A Day of Excitement + +The Indians and the militia were on the move early on the morning of +July 21, 1832. Their camps had been near each other but neither cared +to make an attack at night. While passing along the shore of one of the +lakes at Madison, an Indian was seen to come up from the water and +pause near a newly made grave. In a moment he was pierced with bullets. +The grave was probably that of his squaw who had died from exhaustion +and the disconsolate red man had decided to await the approaching foe +and there, also, meet his fate. + +It was not long until the rear of the band was sighted. The day was +warm. The Indians threw away kettles, blankets and other weighty +articles in order to accelerate their speed. Some forty horses +belonging to the soldiers became exhausted, and the riders leaped from +the animals and hurried along as fast as possible on foot. Two or three +times the Indians showed fight but melted away as soon as any number of +their enemies appeared. These feints but served to spur the militia +forward. The pursuit was ruthless, exciting, and determined, a chase +from dawn to late afternoon. + +Black Hawk did not have over 500 warriors, while General Henry had +about 600 soldiers and Colonel Dodge 150 more. In the ardour of their +pursuit, over a country possessing many difficulties, the immediate +commands of Colonel Dodge and Colonel Ewing had outstripped the rest of +General Henry's brigade. About five o'clock in the afternoon, when they +arrived at Wisconsin Heights, they were met by a spy company which had +preceded them and which had been driven back, the enemy having shown +fight. The command of Dodge, with Ewing in the center, dismounted, +formed in line, and advanced to the edge of the bluff. The Indians were +secreted in the high grass growing on the level ground on both sides of +the stream. Dodge maintained his position for about an hour; General +Henry's brigade then arriving. His soldiers were deployed to the right +and left, the line thus being formed with Dodge's command in the +center. + +From five o'clock until sundown the conflict continued. The Indians in +the meantime had been driven from their initial position, some of them +escaping up the bank south of the stream and others falling back in the +rank verdure toward the Wisconsin. Rain fell and the high grass +becoming wet, it was found impossible for the men to keep their arms +dry in passing through it, so the firing ceased. + + +Allies of the Whites + +Chief White Crow, father of Yellow Thunder's squaw, buried a few miles +north of Baraboo, a number of Winnebago, and Pierre Pauquette, their +interpreter, were in the battle as aids to the whites. They had joined +a detachment which had left Fort Winnebago (Portage) to go to Rock +River, and were in the wild chase across the unbroken country to the +place of the battle. They left the scene during the night and returned +to Fort Winnebago. + +[Illustration: WISCONSIN HEIGHTS BATTLEFIELD] + +On the mountain overlooking the battlefield, an Indian chief gave +orders during the fight and a little before dawn the morning after, a +voice was heard from the same eminence. This greatly disturbed the +troops and General Henry had all of his men parade in order of battle. +The individual speaking in the darkness was Neapope, endeavoring to +make a conciliation, thinking the Winnebago were still in the camp and +would understand him. Just before daylight the harangue ceased and +Neapope disappeared. When morning came troops found a few horse tracks +which appeared to have been made during the night. + + +An Unmarked Grave + +But one soldier was killed, John Short, who is buried on the bank among +the trees, a few rods south of the stream and east of the highway. All +trace of his grave is lost. A young woman, Mary Hackett, who died in +pioneer times, was buried at the eastern extremity of the level ground, +not far from where the soldier was interred. No one has since been +buried here. + +During the battle Colonel Jones had a horse shot from under him and +several soldiers were wounded. The day after the fight was spent in +preparing to transfer the injured to the fort at Blue Mounds. + +The number of Indians killed will never be known, but was in the +neighborhood of fifty or sixty. Many of the survivors, with hearts of +lead, crossed the Wisconsin River during the night, and moved through +the wilderness in a northwesternly direction toward the Mississippi. + +[Illustration: NATURAL BRIDGE NEAR LELAND] + +In his autobiography, Black Hawk says that "Whatever may be the +sentiments of the white people in relation to this battle, my nation, +though fallen, will award to me the reputation of a great brave in +conducting it." Evidently he was proud of his conduct in this +particular fight. + + +Jefferson Davis in the Battle + +Jefferson Davis, later president of the Southern Confederacy, likewise +participated in the Battle of Wisconsin Heights. After he had fought +with distinction in the Mexican war, and had served as secretary of war +in President Pierce's cabinet, and after holding the position of +commander-in-chief of the southern armies for four years during the +Civil War, he supported Black Hawk's claim to the military skill he had +displayed in this battle. Davis speaks of the tactics employed by the +chief as the most brilliant he had ever witnessed, saying: "Had it been +performed by white men, it would have been immortalized as one of the +most splendid achievements in military history." + + +Indians Pursued + +A few days after the battle, troops crossed the Wisconsin at Arena, +marched up the bank of the river until the trail was found, and pursued +the retreating Indians. The savages killed horses along the way in +order to sustain themselves with food; some perished from their wounds, +and still others died from fatigue. At the mouth of the Bad Axe River, +the troops from the rear, the fire from the Warrior on the +Mississippi, and the Indians in Minnesota, almost annihilated the band +of the deluded, deceived, and defeated Black Hawk. A few of his braves +and families who descended the Wisconsin river in boats, met a similar +fate near the mouth of the stream, bringing to an end the cons'n. + +A. L. Taylor resides on a farm a short distance east of the +battlefield. When a youth he accompanied a soldier who fought in the +battle, also his father, over the ground. Mr. Taylor has a clear +recollection of the description of the fight given by the participant +in the battle. Years ago Mr. Taylor's father found on the field a gun +and saddle, afterwards destroyed in a farmhouse fire. + +A short distance south of where John Short is buried there is a fine +group of Indian mounds. + + +Grave of a Napoleon Soldier + +From the Mazomanie road near the battlefield, one may drive east about +a mile to the Roxbury Cemetery, on Trunk Line 12. Near the center of +this Catholic burying ground lies a soldier who served one year against +Napoleon and three years under him, a not uncommon circumstance when +the whole of Europe was torn by the great Corsican. The inscription +above the grave reads: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* Peter Pauli * +* Geb. 10, June, 1792 * +* Gest. 7, Sept., 1884 * +* R. I. P. * +* Schlafe Wohl, O Vater Schlafe * +* Deiner Walfahrt Leiden aus * +* Sanft Sei Dir Der Letzte Schlummer* +* Dein Erwachen Ohne Kummer * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +About 1848 Pauli came with his family to America and after a stay in +Milwaukee settled in Roxbury, where he died. It is said there are two +other Napoleon soldiers buried in this cemetery but their graves have +not been identified. + +Within site of the cemetery is the Roxbury church, one of the richest +rural churches in this section of the state and one which dates to +territorial times. + +On the return after passing over the bridge at Sauk City, the street +due west crosses the railroad track and but a short distance beyond in +an oak grove to the left, may be seen about an acre of Indian corn +hills. Much of the ground at Prairie du Sac and Sauk City was devoted +by the Indians to the growing of vegetables. These corn hills among the +oaks are the only ones remaining, now sward covered and much reduced in +elevation. + +On the knoll or ridge, north of the highway and near the railroad, may +be seen some old buildings among a few trees. Here in the spring of +1854, Professor H. J. Turner opened a French and English boarding +school, which supplied educational facilities to the community for +several years. + + +Natural Bridge + +From Prairie du Sac there is a paved road all the way to Leland, a +distance of some fifteen miles. About a mile east of the last named +village may be seen the Natural Bridge. Passing the third house east of +the church the car should be stopped where the road bends a little to +the left, beyond sight of a farm house and almost in view of the church +steeple in the village. In the edge of the wood, several rods north of +the road, the natural bridge may be seen. This massive and unusual +curiosity, eroded from the sandstone, is on land owned by Richard +Radatz. + +The return to Baraboo may be made by continuing to the east through +Denzer, joining Trunk Line 12 near Kings Corners. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Parfrey's Glen, Wildest of Them All, a Cool Retreat, Prodigal in +Charm--Mill a Memory + + +Parfrey's Glen is a rugged gash in the south range of the Baraboo +Bluffs. This ravine, an interesting objective for tourists, is about a +mile down the slope from Wawanissee Point and some five or six miles +east of Devil's Lake. It derives its name from Robert Parfrey, an early +resident. + +The little stream which has cut this wildly beautiful glen had a +romantic history of usefulness in early days. At the present time it is +secondary in interest to the Glen itself, the first glimpse of which +enthralls the visitor, urging him to journey to the end. + +The route from Baraboo to Parfrey's is along the Merrimack road in a +southeasterly direction. It leads up a bluff, then down on the opposite +side, turning to the left and clinging close to the base of the +elevation for some two miles, until it turns into the farmstead of +August Roese, located a quarter of a mile north of the main highway. +Here the car is abandoned. To reach the Glen a tramp of a half mile is +necessary, along a trail which leads over glacial boulders, across a +mountain stream, and up a winding way to the opening. The view, as one +progresses, includes a charming expanse of rich countryside. + + +Wildest of Them All + +Compared with the other glens of the region, Parfrey's is by far the +wildest. The south wall of this ancient cleft in the bluff is almost +perpendicular. Only occasionally does an overhanging ledge afford a +footing for wood creature or habitation for shrub or fern. High above +pines, birches, oaks and other small timber crowd the brink. The cut +shows a mass of sandstone and quartzite conglomerate which have been +exposed through a long period of erosion. The north slope is clothed in +green. Rugged rocks lie along the purling stream, as if cast there by +giant hands to impede the pathway. Between them flourish ferns, mosses +and an interesting number of native plants. Looking down from the top +of the opening the water winds in and out among the moss-clad stones +like a translucent ribbon, making soft music whose melody is lost as +the stream finds its way to the grass-land. Many birds haunt the Glen; +the indigo bunting, the oriole, and scarlet tanager with their +brilliant coloring contrast sharply with the grey of the rocks. The +note of the song sparrow, the trill of the thrush, and the less marked +twitter of many other varieties are heard with delightful frequency. + +This cool retreat, so prodigal in charm and comparatively easy of +access, should be more widely known than it is to visitors to the +Baraboo region. + + +Mill, a Memory + +In early days the Glen-stream was harnessed to a sawmill located near +the ravine. Evidences of the ancient, earthen dam are visible to this +day. In later years a gristmill made use of the power, for some time +serving the surrounding community. A story which illustrates the extent +of these activities, particularly that of the gristmill, is often +related. It seems that the miller was one day greatly puzzled at the +non-appearance of flour as his wheels ground round and round. Searching +for the cause, it is said, he finally came upon an intruder, no other +than a small grey mouse, which was devouring the product of his mill as +fast as it sifted through. Also it is told that a distillery at one +time, by the aid of the little stream, converted corn from the +neighboring fields into "robin hop." During this interval the Glen +seemed in grave danger of becoming a popular resort for all those who +suffered with a barleycorn thirst and a desire for seclusion. +Fortunately for the reputation of the locality, the existence of the +worm in the wilderness was brief. + +Save for the turf-covered ruins of the ancient dam, all record of the +early enterprises is obliterated and memories of the Glen's activities +alone remain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Durward's Glen--Short History of the Durward Family--Attractive +Features of Interesting Place + + +From Baraboo to Durward's Glen is a trip of exceptional interest and +scenic beauty. The ten-mile drive over a picturesque highway which +stretches along the backbone of the south range of the Baraboo Bluffs +affords rare glimpses of open valleys and wooded slopes, with the +Wisconsin River visible in the distance. The Glen, the erstwhile home +of the gifted Durward family, is a delightful retreat where the visitor +is welcome to spread his lunch by the murmuring trout stream, enjoy the +natural beauty of the spot, and the charm of interesting association. + + +Way to the Glen + +In journeying to the Glen, variety of view is obtained by taking the +road, from Baraboo, on top of the bluffs and returning by the main +highway. The Merrimack road leads via Ringlingville, through Glenville, +and on up the bluff to the flat top about three miles from town. +Following the first turn to the left a level tract is soon noticed on +the right as the machine passes a German Lutheran church and public +school. On the unbroken surface reposed a glacial lake hemmed in on one +side by ice, and on the other by the hills. But a short distance +beyond, on the left, kettle holes (cavities left by melting blocks of +ice) may be seen, also the terminal moraine, a ridge of land but a few +rods away. + + +Point Sauk + +About two miles from the church, where the road curves slightly to the +right, a by-road disappears between a farmhouse and barn, formerly the +P. Fitzsimmons homestead. Less than a quarter of a mile from the main +road, to the right as one proceeds, is Point Sauk, the most elevated +land in the entire region, 1620 feet high. Here one obtains an +extensive view. With a glass the capitol dome at Madison, 285 feet +high, the highest but one in the United States and the highest but +three in the world, nearly thirty miles away, may be seen on the +horizon. + +[Illustration: FOUNTAIN AT DURWARD'S GLEN] + +Continuing on the main road less than a half-mile to Wawanissee Point. +Lake Wisconsin may be seen in the hazy distance, the village of +Merrimack being hidden on the right. + +Stepping into the wooded pasture and ascending a knoll, a wonderous +view is enjoyed. The checkered farms, the shimmering lake, the distant +hills combine in making one of the charming pictures of the region. +Wawanissee is an Indian word which means beauty or beautiful. + +To the left, this side of the river, the Owl's Head, a knot of an +elevation, lifts itself above the surrounding country. + +Turning to the left at the T in the road, swinging to the right at the +first turn, the way but a few rods from the T, leads directly to +Durward's Glen. There one stops by a gate at the left, after crossing a +bridge at the bottom a hill. + + +The Durwards + +Bernard I. Durward, a professor, poet, and painter, was born at +Montrose, Scotland, and married Margaret Hilyard in the Episcopal +church at Manchester, England. They came to America and some time +after, at the request of a friend, Joshua Hathaway of Milwaukee, Mr. +Durward painted a portrait of Archbishop Henni. While engaged on the +picture, the artist was converted to Catholicism. He often remarked +that while he got the bishop's picture, the bishop got him. The +portrait, with one of Mr. Hathaway, is now in the possession of the +State Historical Society of Wisconsin, at Madison. + + +Wisconsin Was a Territory + +It was in 1845 that the father, mother, and two sons came from England +to Wisconsin, then a territory. They reached Milwaukee without funds +but provision for the family was soon assured by an order for a +portrait from a merchant in the city. Before making Milwaukee their +home, however, the family spent a short time in Dodge County and of +this experience a son, Rev. Fr. J. T. Durward, has written: + +"Indians being then plentiful and Cooper's tales the popular reading, +it was no place for a young wife and children, so he rented a house in +Milwaukee; his profession also requiring the more populous locality." + +While the family resided in Milwaukee the father painted portraits and +occupied the chair of belles lettres in St. Francis seminary. But the +ebullitions of life in a city, even the size of Milwaukee, disturbed +the artistic mind and the painter sought seclusion in a retreat amongst +the Caledonia Hills at the Glen. Like Thoreau, politics, palaces and +paved streets had no lure for his aesthetic temperament. + + +The Children + +Frederick, afterwards called Bernard, was born in England and died at +Riverside, Milwaukee. + +Percy, the future artist known as Charles, was born in England and died +at the Glen from eating water hemlock. He employed an "o" in his name, +spelling it Dorward, the usual form after the so-called reformation. +Earlier in Scotch history the name was spelled Durward. + +Emerson, afterwards John Thomas, was born in Milwaukee and died in +Baraboo in 1918. For many years he had charge of St. Joseph's church in +the city, supervised the erection of the present edifice, and wrote a +number of books, "Holy Land and Holy Writ," "Durward's Life and Poems," +and others. + +Emma Theresa, the first daughter, was born and died in Milwaukee. The +baby's funeral was by boat and interment was on the Durward property in +that city. + +Allan, afterwards Rev. James Durward of St. James' Church, St. James, +Minnesota, is the owner of the Glen but continues to reside at St. +James. + +Wilfred J. Durward, taxidermist, photographer, and author of "Annals of +the Glen," was born in Milwaukee. For many years his home has been +near Tacoma, Washington, where he married in 1919. + +[Illustration: CHAPEL AND VIEWS IN THE GLEN] + +Andrew, born in Milwaukee resides near Tacoma, Washington. His marriage +was solemnized in the Glen chapel. + +Miss Mary Thecla Durward was born at the Glen and after many years in +the state of Washington now calls Baraboo her home. + +When the Durward family came from Milwaukee in a one-horse wagon in +1862, crossing the Wisconsin River at Portage, the Glen was reached on +November 1, All Saint's Day. Near the trout stream which flows through +the Glen and close to the first stepping-stones, is the Maltese Cross +cut in the hard sandstone to commemorate their arrival. Just above is +the Guardian of the Glen, a bit of art in nature's wild. + + +Weeping Ledge + +Continuing up the stream to the boundary of the Glen property, the +brook laughs over the projecting stones. Just below is the Weeping +Ledge and as the author of "The Annals of the Glen" remarks; "Here one +sees that the Glen is indeed + + 'Filled with streams forever weeping, + Through the rocks in mossy rills.'" + +When B. I. Durward led visitors to the spot, especially if there were +young ladies in the company, he would roguishly remark: "Bathe your +brow at the ledge and you will be ever beautiful." Seldom a miss +neglected the opportunity. + + +St. Mary's of the Pines + +Ascending the hill by a slender path one reaches St. Mary's of the +Pines, standing on a knoll. Here occasionally there has been a baptism, +a marriage, and a funeral, three important events in the life of man. +The chapel was erected by the family, neighbors and friends in 1866. + +Two of the sons, James and John, said their first mass here. (James was +ordained at Collegeville, Minnesota, and John at St. Francis, +Milwaukee.) Charles, the artist, the father and mother, Father John, as +well as others have been buried from it, and one son, Andrew, was +married here. + +The station shrines encircling the chapel and the cemetery are from +designs by Delaroche and others. They were painted by Charles, and +erected in 1889. Returning from a trip to Palestine that year, Father +John brought a little soil from the site of the stations in the Via +Dolorosa at Jerusalem, "and this was incorporated in these making this +hill-top a veritable Holy Land." + +The father, mother, and two sons sleep on the slope in front of the +boulder-made church. The inscription for the elder Durward reads: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* Bernard I. Durward * +* Poet * +* Painter, Professor * +* Born * +* March 26, 1817 * +* Died * +* March 21, 1902 * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +For the mother the following appears: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* Theresa M. Durward * +* Mother of Priests * +* Born * +* Feb. 7, 1821 * +* Died * +* April 22, 1907 * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +The inscription for the priest reads: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* Beloved * +* Father John * +* Born * +* March 7, 1847 * +* Died * +* Sept. 9, 1918 * +* He Wrought in Words * +* and Builded of Stone * +* and by Grace in the * +* Hearts of Men. * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +A stone for the artist stands at one side, a portion of the inscription +reading: + +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * +* Charles Dorward * +* Born * +* Sept. 27, 1844 * +* Died * +* Nov. 12, 1875 * +* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * + + +Freshet Is Disturbing + +When the family first came to the Glen, a little cabin that stood +between the bridge, near the spring, and the cliff, was their home. +One night a storm arose and the flood of ice, snow and water came +pouring through the family shelter. The sleepers were aroused by the +onrush and there was much commotion within. As related in "The Annals," +one of the urchins, when the lightning flashed, caught sight of the +flood from the top of the stair and cried out with pessimistic instinct +that afterwards distinguished him: + +"O we're all killed, we're all killed." + +[Illustration: GUARDIAN ANGEL AT DURWARD'S GLEN] + +The trap door of the cellar floated open on its hinges, and a confused +medley of carrots, beets, onions, and turnips were vomited out, while +the rats clung to the grain bags and had to be knocked off into the +water. + +In this cottage the only daughter, Mary Thecla, was born and in his +venerable years the father kept a rose bush growing there to mark the +spot. + +The family garden was then between the brook and the wooded slope. + + +The Fountain + +Ceaselessly flows the fountain by the path across the bridge. This was +erected by the poet in memory of his friends and literary heroes. The +Christian and Jewish years will be noticed at the base. + +The star at the top of the keystone is for Miss Anna Eliza Star, a +friend of the family. She resided in Chicago for many years and gave +parlor lectures on art. + +A de V is for Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814-1902), the Irish poet and +miscellaneous writer. He was a son of Sir Aubrey de Vere, also an Irish +poet. + +The Greek delta is the nom de plume under which the poet wrote. + +On the right, B is for James Booth, a carver and gilder. He was a +friend of Mr. Durward in Manchester, England, and later came to New +York. + +[Illustration: FIRST HOME OF THE DURWARD FAMILY AT THE GLEN] + +P is for Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore (1823-1896), the English +Catholic poet. He is best known as the author of "The Angel in the +House." + +Val Zimmerman, represented by the Z, was a merchant friend of the poet +in Milwaukee. The sign for his store was the blue flag. + +Captain John Nader, Madison, was a civil engineer and under his +direction the wingdams along the Wisconsin River were built. He often +made trips up and down the stream while supervising the work, +frequently visiting the Glen. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF THE GLEN] + +The letter H on the left is for Joshua Hathaway, another civil +engineer, who resided in Milwaukee. + +He it was who sent the artist-poet to make a portrait of Archbishop +Henni. + +The stone marked R was placed in memory of John Ruskin. + +The remaining stone is for W. J. Onahan, politician and welfare worker +of Chicago. + +The four basswood trees at the mouth of the Glen, near the Maltese +Cross, are often mentioned as the Melzl Quartette, musical friends of +the family. + +A view of the Potsdam sandstone and basal conglomerate is best obtained +by crossing the stepping stones, moving adroitly, if one would not +baptise his soles. The rounded pebbles are of quartzite, broken pieces +from the Baraboo Mountains of ancient times. Hewing down this wall has +been the work of the little trout stream, which has exposed to view the +formation left by the waves and action of the Potsdam Sea. + +The trout at play in the winding brook and the trees clinging to the +fern-clad cliff are interesting sights in this niche of the great +outdoors. + +The path from the fountain leads to the gallery and low-eaved cottage, +the home for many years of the talented family. In the cottage, studio, +and gallery the father and sons wrote and painted while the mother made +beautiful lace for albs, treasured in many a Catholic church. General +Sherman's wife obtained one for her reverend son, Jesuit priest. + +Guarding the forest on the crest of the hill to the right is a row of +cedars planted in memory of the sons and daughter. Perhaps the Glenman +or Glenwoman will tell you about the great Norway spruces of unusual +height, about the studio, about "Auld Geordie," the ancient bachelor +who gave the disappointing party for the girls of the neighborhood, +about the moosewood and other native plants, as well as a word about +the feathered visitors that come to the Glen. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Spring Green, Helena Shot Tower, and Taliesin--Ableman and +Reedsburg--Other Interesting Trips + + +The journey to Spring Green, Helena, and Taliesin makes a full day's +program. From Baraboo the road leads over highway No. 12 to Prairie du +Sac then follows the route through Witwen, Black Hawk, over the big +hill and down past the Robson farm where there are a number of Indian +mounds on the ridge. There is also a road from Sauk City, known as the +river road, which passes Lodde's Mill and Cassell Prairie on the way. + +After reaching the village of Spring Green, the road to Helena, the +location of the old shot tower, crosses the Wisconsin River and +deflects to the left. This shot tower was erected in 1833 as a result +of the production of lead in Wisconsin and at the time diverted much of +the business from St. Louis to Milwaukee. The enterprise prospered +until 1861 when it fell into decay, the land being sold for taxes. +Later the location became the site of the Tower Hill Congress and +school directed for many years by the late Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones of +Chicago. + +It was here that the American forces crossed the river in the Black +Hawk War. + +A short distance west of the road which crosses the river near Spring +Green is the location of Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's 'love +bungalow'. Here on Saturday, August 15, 1914, Julian Carlson, a negro +servant, killed seven people with a hatchet, wounding two others. The +dead: + +Mrs. Mamah Borthwick, a woman, like the owner of the bungalow, with +unconventional ideas. + +Mrs. Borthwick's son and daughter, John and Martha Cheney, aged 11 and +9 respectively. + +Emil Brodelle, aged 30, an architect. + +Thomas Brunker, hostler. + +Ernest Weston, aged 13. + +David Lindblom, gardener. + +The injured were William H. Weston and Herbert Fritz, the latter +escaping with a broken arm and cuts. + +With gasoline the negro set fire to the building and as the occupants +attempted to escape through a door and window, one by one, he struck +them with a hatchet. The murderer was found in the firebox of the +boiler in the basement and died later in the Dodgeville jail as a +result of taking muriatic acid soon after committing the crime. + +Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. "All that was left +of her" was buried at Unity Chapel, the Cheney children were cremated +in Chicago, the body of Ernest Weston was placed in the Spring Green +cemetery, Emil Brodelle was interred in Milwaukee, David Lindblom was +lowered in a grave at Unity Chapel and Thomas Brunker sleeps at +Ridgeway. + +The owner of the property was in Chicago at the time of the tragedy, +returning soon after. The building was partly destroyed and later +rebuilt along more pretentious lines. + +Taliesin was a Cymric bard, whom Welsh legends assign to the 6th +century. + +Frank Lloyd Wright is an architect of note, having designed the +Imperial Hotel in Tokio and other artistic structures. + +The return from Spring Green to Baraboo may be made over the scenic +route to Plain, thence to Loganville, the County Farm, and Ableman +Narrows. + + +Gibraltar Bluff + +Gibraltar Bluff is reached by crossing the Wisconsin River at Prairie +du Sac and proceeding along the highway or by leaving the train at the +village of Okee and walking a little more than a mile west. Not only +does the climb to the top of this imposing eminence give the +refreshment and delight bred of an extensive view but the active +exercise necessary for the ascent is guaranteed to produce a keen +appetite. When the day is fair the climber is rewarded, when he reaches +the crest, by a charming outlook which includes a wide expanse of +forest, farm and fell, with Lake Wisconsin half-hidden in the distance. +The bluff is a well known haunt of the pasque flower or Badger. + +The geologists have recently changed the names of some of the +formations which are exposed one above the other. The names as given in +the "Geology of Wisconsin," Vol. II, 1873-1877, and the more recent +ones are as follows: + + Old names-- + + 1. Soil and drift. + 2. Lower Trenton limestone. + 3. St. Peter sandstone. + 4. Lower Magnesian limestone. + 5. Madison sandstone. + 6. Mendota limestone. + 7. Potsdam sandstone. + + New names-- + + 1. Soil and drift. + 2. Black River dolomite. + 3. St. Peter sandstone. + 4. Lower Magnesian dolomite. + 5. Jordan sandstone. + 6. St. Lawrence dolomite. + 7. Mazomanie sandstone. + + +Pine Hollow + +About a mile east of Kings Corners, almost opposite a rural school and +cemetery, the buildings of a farmstead appear to hug a fringe of wood, +high bluffs forming the sky line in the immediate background of the +picture. Leaving the car at the home of the owner, Walter Welch, a +short walk through a grove brings the visitor against the beetling +bluffs; solid, silent, eternities of rock. Pine Hollow is hidden away +from the dust of hooting cars, and is a delightful spot wild and +perfect in its quietude. One may wend his way almost a mile up the +sylvan slope along a stream purling in its rocky channel. + + +Reedsburg and Ableman + +A picturesque drive of some forty miles is the one to Reedsburg, the +County Farm, and return. Trunk Line 33 climbs the terminal moraine +about a mile west of Baraboo and from this ice-deposited ridge one +obtains an extensive view of the upper portion of the Baraboo Valley. +When the ice blocked the elongated depression between the two ranges of +Baraboo Bluffs, a lake filled the cavity between the hills to the west. +Following the retreat of the ice the water cut a gap in the moraine, +draining the area covered by the shallow lake. + +As one swings along, occasional glimpses of the Baraboo River is +obtained; rounding a sharp curve a horse-shoe bend is traversed; and +two miles farther, at Ableman, the Upper Narrows of the Baraboo River +crowd the sky line. As with the gorge at Devil's Lake and the one at +the Lower Narrows, this was cut by a stream in ancient geological +times, filled with sandstone when the sea intruded, and later was again +eroded. Like the remnant of a drift of snow in the late spring, in the +gorge is a bed of sandstone deposited by the intruding sea. Along the +crest on the opposite side of the river as one rides along, +conglomerate may be seen, seeming almost ready to topple to the base +below. The cement pebbles tell of waves beating on a far-off shore. On +the right of the road, near the upper end of the gorge, stands a +picturesque rock resisting the elements, an attractive land mark, +carved by the eternal sculptor. + +As Reedsburg is neared, fox farms are passed. The wily animals are +grown for their valuable pelts. + +Just after crossing the Baraboo River in Reedsburg, swing to the left, +climb the winding road, coast down to the County Farm, turn to the +left, drive across Narrows Creek Valley, entering Ableman just after +passing through the gorgeous gorge which corresponds in geological +history with those of Devil's Lake and the Baraboo River. + + +Merrimack to Prairie du Sac + +Take the launch at Merrimack for a river ride to the hydro-electric +plant at Prairie du Sac. Down this river went Joliet and Marquette, the +first white men in this region, in June, 1673. Duluth and Hennepin were +the first to come up the stream in 1680. Down the waterway went a +French force in 1727 to erect a Fort on the Mississippi, and along this +course retreated, in 1760, the last French garrison of Machinac, +seeking the Illinois country. + +Other adventures and expeditions have disturbed these waters in times +past and in the middle of the last century a procession of rafts plowed +southward. Prior to the advent of the railroad a few river steamers +dodged the sandbars as often as they could, but today naught but small +craft course the stream. + +The boatman may show you the location of Rosalietown, near where the +river bends southward, a pioneer hamlet of which nothing now remains. +The little cemetery has been eaten away by the river. + + +Anacher Hill + +A vast and pleasing prospect is obtained from Anacher Hill in +Caledonia. From Baraboo the elevation may be reached by driving to the +Welch Church on Trunk Line Highway 33, going to the right about two +miles, to the left a mile and again to the left a mile. The place may +also be reached by driving past Pine Bluff or through Dog Hollow. + +From the elevation return to the east and west road, then go east about +a mile, not descending the bluff. North of the Scherbath home a few +rods, the quartzite is seen to outcrop. In the hard rock may be seen a +number of pot holes, similar to those at Devil's Lake. As to whether +they were made by a waterfall during glacial times or before, +geologists have not determined. + +A fine view may be obtained from this outcrop or from the land back of +the Scherbath house. + +Two or three miles west of Anacher hill, a short distance north of the +road extending east of Pine Bluff, is another elevation, the Clifford +Capener farm, affording a rare outlook. + + +Baxter Hollow + +Baxter Hollow is an extensive wild and rocky valley about a mile west +of Kings Corners. Here granite outcrops, there being an excellent +exhibit of the sedimentary quartzite resting upon the igneous +formation. Wild deer range here and rattlesnakes in abundance creep. +Previous to 1920, A. M. Myers killed over 500 in a few years, +exhibiting the rattles as truthful trophies of his invasion of the dens +of these deadly creatures. In former times trout from the stream filled +the creels of many anxious anglers and wildcats were caught by +trappers. + + +The Baraboo River + +Leave the car above the cement bridge between Baraboo and Lyons, and +take a launch for a trip on the Baraboo River to North Freedom. If the +boatman is a Burroughs he will show you the muskrat glides, the +springs, the flowing wells, and the haunts of the wild life. + + +Merrimack Toward Portage + +From Merrimack a journey may be made up stream, the distance depending +on the stage of the water. During the mating season a colony of crows +may be seen nesting in the dead trees and in the side of Wild Cat Bluff +swallows dwell in unusual number. + + +Leach Lake + +About two and one-half miles north of the fair ground, Leach Lake +reposes by the road-side. The body of water covers but a few acres and +is the source of Leach Creek, famous for cress and trout. + + +Konkel's Mill + +About six miles east of Baraboo, Konkel's Mill is hidden away beneath a +hill. The stream from the pond escapes through an inviting wood, where +the king fisher clatters in his flight and the squirrel chatters in +lofty security. + + +Lodde's Mill + +About three miles west of Sauk City, Lodde's Mill Pond is situated. The +rugged bluff and pleasant surroundings attract many visitors. Rare is +the day when a number of fishermen are not watching their floats with +carking care. + +A short distance east of the mill-pond Otter Creek crosses the highway +and sinks in the sand, becoming a lost stream. + + +Cemetery Group of Mounds + +There is a fine group of Indian mounds a short distance south of the +city, near the east road to Devil's Lake, on the farm owned by W. H. +Donald. A bear effigy and others compose the group. + + +Other Little Journeys + +This concludes the series of little journeys to be described. Many +beautiful ones are omitted, the Hog's Back northwest of Baraboo, many +places along the Wisconsin River, and others on the Baraboo Bluffs. By +making the twenty-five or more already given, however, one will have +acquired a very comprehensive knowledge of Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's +Lake region. + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + + +Made minor punctuation corrections and the following changes: + +Index: Changed "Boyhod" to "Boyhood". + Orig: XI. Boyhod Homes of John Muir + +Page 5: Changed "occassion" to "occasion". + Orig: On one occassion citizens began to arrive for both religious + +Page 6: Changed "enlightment" to "enlightenment". + Orig: village with any pretence to enterprise and enlightment + +Page 8: Changed "nescessary" to "necessary". + Orig: it was nescessary to stoop unusually low when entering + +Page 9: Changed "insurence" to "insurance". + Orig: It is stated there was insurence of $12,000, + +Page 9: Changed "indentified" to "identified". + Orig: newspapermen, and others indentified with the city + +Page 11: Changed "artisic" to "artistic". + Orig: impressive and artisic in design, + +Page 13: Changed "metomorphosed" to "metamorphosed". + Orig: still later metomorphosed into the hard quartzite + +Page 15: Changed "upifted" to "uplifted". + Orig: limestone and iron were upifted and folded + +Page 15: Changed "2-5" to "2/5". + Orig: Average width--2,200 feet or 2-5 of a mile. + +Page 15: Changed "3-5" to "3/5". + Orig: Area--388 acres, or 3-5 of a square mile. + +Pages 15-16, Retained "Devils" as the text quotes I. A. Lapham, and +gives the Indian translation. Both may have used the plural word. + + Orig: I. A. Lapham, early Wisconsin traveler and scientist, wrote: + "The lake is vulgarly called Devils Lake from the wild, rocky + place in which it is found." The Indian name for Devils Lake + is Minnewaukan, or Evil Spirit Lake. + +Page 19: Changed "Kibourn" to "Kilbourn". + Orig: almost continuous avenue of pines into Kibourn. + +Page 19: Changed "distroying" to "destroying". + Orig: The erection of the dam, although distroying these + +Page 21: Changed "peculiarily" to "peculiarly". + Orig: named for a peculiarily shaped rock at the entrance. + +Page 21: Changed "grandure" to "grandeur". + Orig: entrance to the wild grandure of the Dells. + +Page 22: Changed "submergged" to "submerged". + Orig: The Devil's Arm Chair is submergged. + +Page 22: Changed "walkng" to "walking". + Orig: power station is within easy walkng distance + +Page 25: Changed "existance" to "existence". + Orig: magnates who dared to attempt to obliterate their existance, + +Page 28: Switched position of misplaced third and fourth lines below: + + Orig: The slopes of the lake are the + home of the trailing arbutis whose + half exposed, are eagerly sought by + delicate pink blossoms, half hidden, + visitors in early spring. + +Page 30: Changed "primative" to "primitive" + Orig: dwellings built about a primative mill. + +Page 31: Changed "Morman" to "Mormon". + Orig: persuaded to preach for the Morman church, + +Page 33: Changed "distruction" to "destruction". + Orig: only saved from distruction by the abundance of snow. + +Page 34: Changed "pre-Indan" to "pre-Indian". + Orig: The theory was at one time advanced that a pre-Indan race, + +Page 41: Changed "Wisonsin" to "Wisconsin". + Orig: Crossing the canal bridge near the Wisonsin River + +Page 41: Changed "sevententh" to "seventeenth" + Orig: three famous travelers in the late sevententh century. + +Page 42: Changed "fifteen-hundreths" to "fifteen-hundredths". + Orig: sold in 1853, the nineteen and fifteen-hundreths acres + +Page 46: Changed "Gilyre" to "Gilrye". + Orig: David Gilyre, born July 11, 1840; + Orig: Joanna Gilyre, born on September 7, 1850; + +Page 47: Changed "existanc" to "existence". + Orig: The villages have been rivals since they came into existance + +Page 48: Changed "dismouted" to "dismounted". + Orig: Ewing in the center, dismouted, formed in line, + +Page 48: Changed "meatime" to "meantime". + Orig: The Indians in the meatime had been driven + +Page 50: Changed "achievments" to "achievements". + Orig: one of the most splendid achievments in military history. + +Page 51: Changed "curiousity" to "curiosity". + Orig: This massive and unusual curiousity, + +Page 53: Changed "existance" to "existence". + Orig: the existance of the + +Page 62: Changed "gardner" to "gardener". + Orig: David Lindblom, gardner. + +Page 64: Changed "sedementary" to "sedimentary". + Orig: exhibit of the sedementary quartzite + +All other spelling or hyphenation inconsistencies have been retained +to match the original book. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake Region, by +H. E. Cole + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40186 *** |